Conscious

by Vic Grout

“I have tested this and I know it produces a result,” George informed them uncertainly. “But I have some doubts. Firstly, the code I have managed to get to work here takes longer to converge to an answer than yours. I believe yours takes one minute; here it takes several: five or six maybe. That does not seem right since we have much faster processors here. Secondly, I cannot claim complete confidence in the manner in which the software is polling the sensors for the noise readings. We get a sensible result but I have limited confidence in its absolute accuracy.”

  “We can but see,” said Stephen quietly. “Shall we run it and see what happens?”

  “Yes, let’s go,” agreed Bob. Then a thought occurred. “So, what have you got access to there in Luxembourg to look at?” As he spoke, George leaned over her console and pressed a key, which presumably started the analysis.

  “We are not in Luxembourg,” said Stephen in a slightly surprised tone. “Why would you think we are in Luxembourg?”

  “Because that’s where we met. I just assumed you were still there!”

  “No Bob, I have not been in Luxembourg since the afternoon we parted. Since then, I have been in Barcelona, Berlin and Milan. I have spoken to you from all those places. Our systems automatically mask out locations reasonably well. Someone like you would know how to bypass this if required but I suppose you have not felt the need to do this?”

  “No,” agreed Bob. “I’d just assumed you were still in Luxembourg so I didn’t look! So where are you now?”

  “We are in Paris,” George informed them. “We are currently running your code at one of the largest European switching centres, which we have access to here.”

  “There will not be any need to divulge further detail at this stage,” interrupted Stephen, with a disapproving glance at her.

  “Wow! That should give us something,” said Jenny, clearly impressed.

  The analysis took another few minutes to run. It seemed like an hour. Eventually, George moved forwards just slightly in her chair and announced, “It has finished.” She twisted her smartwatch to point at her screen. After a split second of auto-focus, they all read:

  S = 6.14

  They all simultaneously emitted a noise – a sigh, a groan, which was part relief – part disappointment. Jenny was the first to speak.

  “It’s not much; but it is higher than anything we’ve seen in the UK.” Bob and Andy nodded. Aisha looked anxious. Stephen slowly cupped his eyes and forehead in his hand. When he removed his hand and faced them again, he looked – for the first time since Bob had known him – like man who was not in control of the situation. His voice, when he spoke, was almost imploring.

  “Can I really take this to my superiors?”

  “I think you have to,” said Aisha, quietly but firmly.

  *

  Their final video-conference took place at midnight: a short affair. Stephen appeared on screen looking pale and haggard.

  “Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have fulfilled my promise. I have taken your concept of a sentient Internet to the remainder of my team and my superiors. I think it is reasonable to say that they appear unimpressed with the possibility, or the credibility, of such an explanation. However, they have agreed to discuss it with me again early tomorrow morning. I suspect they will either embrace the concept in a limited form, along with the various other theories under consideration; so you may be invited to join us here. Or …”

  “Or?” prompted Andy.

  “Or,” Stephen continued reluctantly, “I imagine I will no longer be a part of this investigation. I would say that would mean that there would be someone else for you to speak to by tomorrow; but it is probably more likely that no-one here will then wish to talk to you at all. Goodnight everyone. I hope this is not Goodbye although I believe it may be.” The connection was closed abruptly.

  There was nothing more to do or say; The Desk prepared for bed for the night. Jenny glanced at Andy and Aisha, putting away the dishes together, and smiled.

  “I’ll just collect my things from upstairs,” she announced. “I’ll sleep downstairs on the couch tonight.”

  “Why?” asked Bob, astonished.

  “Bob,” laughed Jill, re-entering his office from the living room, “you may be good at detecting network traffic but you’re pretty hopeless with real life!”

  *

  But, in fact, none of them had quite the night they were expecting.

  It happened around three o’clock in the morning, not entirely instantaneously but quickly. The, by now commonplace, occasionally noisy, RFS confusion inside and outside suddenly escalated. Lights flashed and alarms sounded everywhere in the house and multiplied many times, it seemed, in the neighbourhood. As the five of them converged in panic to the kitchen, their first task was to unplug several appliances, which had been hitherto behaving themselves. One of the remote TV screens switched on and screamed broken data. Outside, something sounded like an explosion in the distance. Then sirens.

  “What on earth is happening?” Jill screamed. Bob held her close and glanced at the wifi router, flashing error lights in the corner of the adjacent room.

  “I’d say It’s figured out how to use wireless!”

  PHASE FOUR: TREATMENT

  Chapter 16: Extended Horizons

  There was an extent to which normality could be restored and an extent to which it could not; and this was slowly unveiled through the morning as both a local and global principle. In the Weatherill household, misbehaving appliances were unplugged as necessary. Some were optimistically or experimentally plugged back in again. If this temporary disconnection solved a particular device’s issue, it was left; otherwise it was taken out once more, and so on. Some things could be left on with wireless disabled; for others, this reconfiguration was not so easy – and did not always help anyway: the increased RFS was almost everywhere and now had more than one attack vector in many cases. Also, unfortunately, the situation was not consistent – or stable – or predictable – and many devices then ‘reoffended’ at a later time or showed their first signs of misbehaviour suddenly and without warning. If the sound from the surrounding neighbourhood was anything to go by, this scene was being re-enacted far-and-wide. ‘How far?’ they all wondered as they battled their own local chaos.

  It took nearly an hour to exert what was clearly the limit of their control. One thing that could not be fixed quickly was the heating: the house was very cold. Devices were still prone to erratic behaviour from time to time but they had reduced the overall disruption to a level by which these individual RFS outbreaks could be dealt with as and when they occurred. In fact, they had to remind themselves repeatedly that this was ‘still just RFS’: the abrupt escalation made the old problem appear new somehow. The world, which had already become a hazardous place over the past week or two, suddenly seemed even more dangerous.

  There was unspoken agreement from The Desk that there was to be no further attempt at sleep that night; it would have been difficult anyway: there were almost no periods of sustained quiet now. Shortly after four o’clock, with as much made right in the house as could be, Bob reconnected Hattie to his laptop interface and set her to take another reading. They all gathered round and read:

  S = 0.710

  “Bloody Hell!” grunted Andy.

  “I said this would happen,” said Bob with the closest he could manage to a nonchalant shrug.

  “And we knew what would happen when it did,” agreed Aisha.

  Bob also pointed at Hattie’s various oscilloscope displays. “Look, there’s noise on the actual wifi signals being received as well. We’re right: It’s figured out how to use Its wireless links too.”

  “Could that be background?” suggested Jenny. “Crossover?”

  “Possible,” conceded Bob. “But I don’t think so at those levels. And, it wasn’t there before. Something’s happened!”

  They then connected Hattie back to the broadband box for the outside line and measured there.

  S = 0.719
r />   “That’s interesting,” noted Jenny. “It’s higher; we’d expect that. But it’s not that much higher.”

  “That is because there is not so much of an edge to It any more,” said Aisha. “It is more massively connected now; more like a human brain in terms of self-similarity and scale-free structure.”

  “Just how much like a human brain?” asked Andy.

  “We may have to wait and see,” said Aisha gloomily.

  *

  No-one was particularly surprised by Stephen’s coming back online at an early hour. They were, however, taken aback by his appearance. He looked pale and drawn in a way that his presumed sudden awakening might only partially explain. His familiar control now seemed to have completely deserted him. When he spoke, it almost seemed as he was unaware what he was going to say until he heard it himself. Only his civility and his general crispness of language remained.

  “I assume we have entered a new phase, ladies and gentlemen.” They could not tell whether this was supposed to be a question or a statement. Eventually, Jenny offered something by way of return.

  “Yes, we think so. We think that It has learned how to …” She paused, then continued in a different vein. “We suspect that the PDN problem has spread to wireless links.”

  “It has,” Stephen agreed with a fatalistic air. “We have reports and readings from across Europe and the rest of the world. There is now noise on most types of wireless links, both long and short range.”

  “We did say that this could happen,” Aisha said softly. She added nothing more but waited for the reply.

  “Yes, you did, indeed,” agreed Stephen eventually. “But there is something more.”

  “Yes?” asked Bob, expectantly.

  “We think … our data suggests that …, since PDN has appeared on wireless links, there has been an effect on wired links as well.”

  They all nodded. Jenny’s eyes narrowed. “Go on …?”

  “We believe that the appearance of PDN on the wireless networks, has coincided with an increase in RFS in devices on wired networks too, even those with no wireless components.” He may have been about to continue but was interrupted by Jenny slamming her hand down hard on the table in front of the screen.

  “Yes!”

  Stephen nodded his understanding.

  “I would assume you find this information consistent with your model of a large, powered sentient Internet? You would argue that the increased … shall we say ‘activity’ … on the wired components is the result of its increased overall complexity due to the extra connectivity provided by the newly activated wireless links?”

  They all nodded.

  “Yes, It’s not hugely bigger, but It’s more densely connected,” agreed Jenny.

  “More like the human brain,” confirmed Aisha.

  “So, the increased complexity in some places has given It increased activity everywhere,” offered Bob by way of further explanation. “There’s no conventional network model that I can think of that can explain that. Normal signals – even malicious ones – wouldn’t propagate like that. We have to be looking at some sort of integrated brain activity here!”

  “Aye, and we’ve taken new S Parameter measurements this morning,” continued Andy, “and they’re quite a wee bit higher. Its sentience measure,” a wry look at Jenny, “is close to what we’d expect from …, well, us.”

  “I have also taken that reading here,” agreed Stephen. The Desk exchanged puzzled looks. Why would Stephen be taking the reading? Perhaps George was not in work yet: it was still very early even if Europe was an hour ahead. They allowed him to continue.

  “We have a new figure here for your ‘Sentience Parameter’ of 0.727,” Stephen informed them. “This is taken from the same network position, with the same parameters, as last night. How does this compare with your revised figures?”

  “0.710 on a wireless host and 0.719 on domestic ATM,” said Bob.

  Stephen nodded once more.

  “And we think that this is also consistent with your …,” he hesitated, sighed, and continued, “with our theory?” he suggested with an air of resignation.

  “Yes,” said Jenny with something of a triumphant look at the others. “Firstly the figure’s higher everywhere. Secondly, it’s more uniform everywhere. There seems to be less of an edge to It.”

  “Which gives It more of the overall scale-free self-similarity of the human brain,” agreed Aisha.

  Although no-one made any comment, they all understood the significance of Stephen’s choice of words: he may have been won over. But there was something more in his tone that made Andy ask:

  “So, Stephen, have you spoken to other people about this, this morning? Since last night?”

  Stephen nodded but said nothing. Andy continued.

  “And what did they say?”

  “As I already told you,” Stephen said slowly, “they were considerably less than receptive last night. Of course, I was less than entirely convinced myself. However, my final words to them, before we left for our homes, were fortuitous. I informed them of your prediction that the wireless links would become active at some point. I also explained what you believed would then happen, based on your theory of a sentient Internet. (I am aware that is something of a simplification of your actual model but I was not prepared to elaborate then.) They dismissed my suggestion somewhat ruggedly, shall we say? They came close to dismissing me too, I believe.”

  “But this morning?” Andy pressed.

  “This morning we have held an emergency meeting to consider these new developments. There was much to discuss, of course, and provision has to be made for dealing with the escalated situation. I would naturally have reminded them of your comments regarding the wireless links but this was not necessary: they remembered well enough.”

  “So …?”

  “So, there is, I suppose, good and bad news.”

  They waited expectantly. Stephen continued.

  “The good news is that there is a balance of opinion here in the central team that there may be some validity to your argument.” The Desk said nothing, only waited expectantly, so he continued. “There is a majority view now that we may be dealing with a sentient Internet.”

  “And the bad news?” Andy asked quietly.

  “That we may be dealing with a sentient Internet!”

  *

  They were speaking again in less than an hour. Stephen began with a very focused question.

  “I have been instructed to ask you, ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “taking your theory as a working hypothesis, whether you believe our actions have hastened the events of early this morning?”

  They felt they probably understood the question but no-one was quite confident enough to reply. Eventually, Jenny took up the case.

  “Do you mean, did the policy of switching wired networks to wireless help It learn how to use Its wireless links quicker?”

  Stephen nodded. They all glanced uncertainly at each other. Bob volunteered an opinion.

  “I don’t think we can really say,” he conceded. “It’s possible, of course, but not certain.”

  “It would have happened anyway eventually,” suggested Aisha. “It is a natural part of the brain’s function to find out how best to use its own structure. That may be the most basic part of its control imperative. This is how it deals with internal damage and copes with new external inputs from artificial implants, for example. It naturally discovers how to make use of its full range of hardware. Often, in the human brain, certain paths do not work so it automatically finds out how to use others. In Its – the sentient Internet’s – case, the wireless links were there to be used all along. It was aware of both ends of each link so it was probably natural that It should learn how to use the channel in between. Of course, once it had discovered how to use just one, or a few, It would have had a global solution very quickly.” She paused for breath, but added, “We may never know if we actually precipitated that discovery by giving It more wir
eless links to observe.”

  “And does it really matter?” asked Andy.

  “It does in a tangential sense,” Stephen said carefully. “Three things about you all have impressed me, my team and my superiors. Firstly, we have appreciated your analytical skills for some time; we also recognise how you each bring individual experience to your group and how strong the collective result is. Secondly, if you are correct in your explanation of PDN and RFS, then you are probably ahead of anyone else in the world in this at the present time; this ability to find explanations is valuable beyond measure because we might reasonably expect solutions to come from similar creative sources. Thirdly, if we can place a reasonable interpretation on the events of last night, then you may have considerable insight into how this, this … entity … may behave in future. At the present point in time, this predictive power may make you close to unique.”

  They smiled uncertainly at each other. Andy asked the somewhat practical question they were all thinking.

  “Aye, well, that’s very nice indeed, laddie, and much appreciated! But where are going with this?”

  Stephen smiled weakly in turn. “‘Going’ may ‘be a good choice of word, my friend, at least from your perspective. ‘Coming’ is more appropriate from mine. My superiors believe – and I agree – that you all will be more valuable if you now have access to the facilities we do here. With your permission then, we will make immediate arrangements for you join us in Brussels?”

  “Brussels?” queried Bob. “Not Paris?”

  “I will meet you all in Brussels,” confirmed Stephen. “That will be more convenient for us and still a relatively short journey for you. We will make the necessary arrangements without delay. These will include transportation of all your essential equipment,” they all glanced involuntarily at Hattie, “and all the safety and security measures we consider necessary.” He paused. “I am sure I do not have to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that no journey is without risk at present and, with the escalation we now see, today may present even more challenges than yesterday. We will do everything within our power to keep you safe but I cannot force you to do this. The final decision is yours.”