“Well, what can you do? We're not going to take them out,” he laughed.
Christoph kept silent and looked at Orcuin, who made a sweet sound just then, prompting him to pet her again. Solly felt compelled to impress Christoph with his plan, and told him about Brain Rank
[11] , the grade he intended to assign every user. He explained it casually, as though he did not consider it to be of much significance or consequence.
Christoph listened wide-eyed and asked eagerly, “You mean to say the lower ranked will be wiped out from the collective consciousness?” He stood up abruptly. “I'll just be a few minutes,” he said and went to another room, without excusing his sudden departure. In fact, there was nothing he needed to do but breathe deeply. He was too excited by what he heard.
He thought Solly could not have arrived at a better time. Christoph was being sucked into his parents' business, repeatedly postponing the realization of a worldview that perfectly fell in line with the network Solly was already developing. When it came to capabilities, Christoph felt he did not lose to Grey, but he lacked the patience and ability to get down to specifics. He thought big and hated lengthy processes. The brilliant and miserable Solly had landed in his lap like a ripe fruit and cut a path straight to where Christoph wanted to be. He saw the key to a new world in Solly. He saw Netopia.
An ordered logic underlay the network. On Minds, reciprocal relationships would be elevated to a form of art. As far as Christoph was concerned, people should not be allowed to reap benefits where they made no contribution. And the network had apparently already laid down the foundation by which all parasites will be taken out.
“So, if the network wanted to flag certain people as inefficient, let's say people over eighty, or privacy zealots, will that be a possibility?” Christoph asked when he returned to the room.
“Sure. Everything is possible,” Solly answered without really understanding what his companion was getting at.
“Imagine, my dear,” Christoph continued, “a world with only efficient people who contribute to human knowledge. We're talking about a live global brain. You get to decide who these people will be. In the end, you’ll have the ability to shape your world through Minds. Am I right?”
“Yes,” Solly answered.
“Splendid, splendid,” said Christoph.
“There's plenty of work left, everything’s still being worked out,” Solly apologized.
“Never mind, what matters is that you're a thinking man. It's not something that comes for granted these days. Not at all in these silly days. Thanks to you, the world will be a nicer place to live in.”
They smiled and toasted another drink to life, and in a way, to death.
4
Baby Gaga
“Maybe it's time for you to fall in love, settle down and have a child?” Claudia asked her son when she came with his father Johann for a rare visit to the castle.
“Is that what you came here for?” he asked in anger and rolled his eyes at her.
“No, but how long can you go on being alone, and in this huge castle? Minds won't bring anything new into your life,” Claudia declared. “Imagine having your own little baby to inherit your fortune. Who'll run the family business when you're gone… and this thing?” she asked and pointed to Orcuin.
“Her name is Orcuin, and you should try to remember that,” Christoph answered and turned his back in rage.
She left the room, shouting on her way out, “One day you'll see I was right, and I pray it won't be too late.”
Staring at his Orcuin and hearing her soft whimpering, he could not help but feel sad. She took his mother's words to heart. He had only one child and she was it; that is what he believed.
“Pay her no mind,” he whispered up close. “No one’s going to replace you if it's up to me. And it is up to me.”
And then he thought about real life babies. Meeting his mother brought back dark memories of the Baby Gaga episode, which took place in the era before Minds.
***
It all started with Christoph wanting to create a world that would be pure, clean, beautiful, better and more efficient. The elusive stench of defeat breathing down his neck mortified him, and he made himself read every publication on recent medical research he could get his hands on, excited by the pace of scientific discovery. The sight of babies in their cribs filled him with anger. He wondered how many of them would waste their lives as worthless units of consumption, enjoying the labors of others while contributing nothing, and how many might be opinion leaders or more - people with an independent mind, and something real to say other than the stupid, dressed up echoes of others.
What a rotten society, he thought. More babies, courtesy of their wretched parents, popping out one by one into the world. A glorious waste. How can humanity ever expect to get anywhere like this? How is society expected to prosper, made up as it is of thieving mammals, suckling wisdom and spewing nonsense, wastes of space and resource? Their cow eyes certainly don't foretell a promising future. We breed consumers today just like they used to rear cattle in the nineteenth century, but back then stupidity at least produced some meat and dairy. And what do all these have to contribute? Added volume to a wasteful economy, lacking in taste and nutritional value.
He found himself discussing this with Fabian, the only one he thought could understand him.
“Fabian, there's no shortage of beautiful couples who manage to produce ugly babies, or smart parents of stupid kids. And too much emphasis is being put on social parameters.”
“You're right, it’s a problem. But so what? Will this be your reason not to have kids?”
“I don't need a child to succeed me. I'm going to live forever.”
Fabian giggled and said, “Live forever? That's a nice idea. I wouldn't mind it myself.” In his heart he was saddened. He allowed himself occasionally to dream about raising his own child with Christoph, and now he had to listen to him going on about eternal life.
“You can joke about it, but I'm sure that if you had your own child standing in front of you, you'd feel differently. You wouldn't care about all those parameters.”
“Why would I want my own child standing anywhere when I could simply be my own heir?” Christoph answered.
Fabian found it hard to fathom the half smile stretched on his friend's face as he carried on. “With all respect to procreation, there should be some higher purpose to things other than individual gratification, wouldn't you say?”
Christoph believed that he was about to change all that, or to at least dramatically improve on it. The baby app he invested in, Baby Gaga, made it possible for parents to plan a perfect baby. Genetic science laid out the groundwork for the programming of babies many years before, but Baby Gaga sought to make the business easier, more accessible, cheaper and more efficient, by using an intuitive user interface and innovative features that controlled the desired personality profile.
“Nature requires nine months, we take only nine minutes” was the catch phrase that promoted the launch of the application.
In the beginning, Christoph was thrilled by the excitement of creation and the power it gave him. Fabian, an active partner, had his misgivings. Theorizing was one thing, but putting it into action was crossing into something else. But after accepting that the fire burning in his friend's blue eyes was not something he could easily dampen, he gave up and gave the project everything he had. Christoph enlisted the help of additional creative powers: the finest programmers and researchers, people only money and connections could buy. A large chunk of his fortune went into the venture. He saw himself as a messenger bearing the responsibility for creating a decent society. Back then, Christoph believed that his Netopia would emerge from the application, at least until a more comprehensive solution could be developed.
“Just imagine the possibilities,” he said to Fabian. “The perfect babies that parents will achieve through our app will also be the most beneficial to society.”
All through t
he development stage, Christoph dreamed about a pure world - the dream of a loving couple browsing through a catalog full of babies who were beautiful, successful, brilliant and talented had universal appeal. There was no point in feigning innocence: babies were going to be a regular service industry.
Recruiting personnel was a daunting task, given the founder's penchant for perfectionism, but again – money opened doors. The new company poached talent from all over the world and even commissioned research on genetic mapping and the manipulation of genetic traits by algorithmic methods.
After two years of intense development, they were ready to go. Marketing was a joint venture with the Bubble Game toy empire, running with the line: “The perfect toy needs the perfect baby,” and a free promotional neopet for every baby generated on the application, an excellent buy-one-get-one-free deal. The first step in using the application was for every parent to submit samples of DNA, blood and semen on sterile dishes that slotted into home pad surfaces
[12] and synced with the Cloud. The online analysis lasted several seconds and produced a complete genetic mapping of the expected infant: its appearance, personality traits and other genetic features. Parents were then asked to proceed with a simulation of the chosen child's projected development, where they could see images of the baby at birth, and at ages two, five, twenty and so forth.
The genetic percentages could be tweaked, added to or subtracted from to produce the desired baby. Future parents who chose to go with the first, more orthodox track, could put together a baby by combining the best qualities of only the mother and father. Everything was planned to the last detail, and every known genetic disease was filtered out.
On the second Baby Gaga track, instead of providing semen and ovum samples, parents ordered them from accomplished people, celebrities or lesser knowns. They could use more than a simple combination of sperm cell and egg. It was possible to combine several sperm cells with an egg, or several eggs and several sperm cells, to arrive at the ideal blend. Every celebrity DNA component cost a lot of money. The demand was mostly for well-known donors who sold their copyrighted genes, and the blend cost customers hundreds of thousands - even millions - of Unis.
Obviously, it was not possible to produce a baby made exclusively from one person's genes, to prevent effective cloning. This practice was controlled by the state, and breaking the law could mean life in prison.
The third track combined the first and the second, and the babies were made using genetic stock from the parents and distinguished donors. This allowed parents to feel they were getting the best of both worlds, preserving their line and improving it at the same time.
As expected, the third track was the most popular. Most parents believed copying at least one trait from a distinguished donor was a necessary investment. The cliché ‘every parent thinks their child is a genius’ quickly became a reality.
If DNA mapping showed that prospective parents had a low average IQ, the application directed them to the Intellect Store, where they could find many discounts on Nobel winning genes and other assorted geniuses who touted their hereditary legacy to the highest bidder.
Most donors were scientists, a sector Christoph believed would produce the most promising generation. It would lead to the banishment of stupidity, or at least to its reduction. An achievement that warrants a Nobel prize in itself, Christoph thought and chuckled.
“Do you realize what we invested in?” he tried stoking Fabian. “It's the engineering of humanity.”
“But we can't promise that level of results.”
“We won't even make that claim. We'll guarantee seventy percent. The legal terms will protect us. Parents are responsible for their child's development, and you can't rule out the environment. If a child doesn't live up to its potential, no one could come blaming the app.”
“You have it all figured out,” Fabian said and smiled at Christoph.
“Always,” Christoph answered, pleased. “The app won't stop at baby planning, it’ll also provide accurate future recommendations.”
“You mean like user guidelines?” Fabian asked.
“Exactly. A lifetime menu to avoid risk of disease. A list of proactive foods we'll recommend for every disease the baby might contract at any stage. We'll attach a list of environmental recommendations and a lifestyle optimized for every baby. With the genetic makeup and environmental controls, Baby Gaga researchers will be able to predict the creature's development to perfection. Baby Gaga, that's our baby!”
“Perfect,” said Fabian, who on occasion dared to dream about having a child with Christoph, a worthy heir who would carry on their work.
Baby Gaga gave the future parents countless options, and the unlikely scenarios fed into the system reached the preposterous. Many parents followed their recommendations and relocated to the countryside or city, some were sent to remote regions just to give their future baby a better chance of success. They all wanted a good night's sleep, assured they would not give birth to a monster. They wanted to make sure the fate of their child was in their hands. It was only natural they would want to control everything and minimize the uncertainties that would lead to anxiety and insecurities. That was the way to ensure the child they wanted.
At a certain point, the research team started realizing that many personality traits were going to disappear, bred out and scheduled for cryonic suspension. Seasonal fluctuations in user behavior also registered: in winter, parents went with creative thought and artistry, and summers saw an upsurge in demand for athletic and fashion model genetics. When temperatures increased, customers looked for more sexy stock, highly verbal and extrovert personalities, and when it got colder the children were made more serious, profound and melancholic. The media also helped set trends. When more actors than models were cast for commercials, the demand for actors went up. If some nation had more literary than scientific achievements, parents there went with leading authors. Everything changed according to the prevailing trends. All Christoph did was offer them, the parents, a grounding point in an otherwise unsettling world.
No one knew that Christoph really could not stand babies, and his day job did not help in that sense. When he started telling people about the app, he was made to suffer all sorts of annoying remarks, like “What a sensitive man,” or “You're sure to make a fine father!” People were certain that he had a gentle soul. When he saw the eyes of random listeners glistening, wet with emotion on hearing about the brilliant app, all Christoph could think of was wanting to bash their heads against a wall.
But such was the price he had to pay for having his vision.
Many parents reconsidered the whole idea of having children after experiencing the app, but science advocates convinced them that not following through would haunt them mentally and financially for the rest of their lives.
In the first days, as Christoph closely orchestrated the staff of hundreds at Baby Gaga, the atmosphere was that of a biological Renaissance, the birth of a new man. Baby Gaga was considered one of the hottest companies in the market, and for two main reasons: first – there will always be children, and there will always be parents; and second – parents will always want successful kids.
Granted, there were also many opponents to the project, groups of moralists and other prudes, but they, too, eventually lost ground to progress, as Christoph predicted they would.
Christoph set his ideas promoters on the critics, ready to counter that life planning, as opposed to leaving life to chance, was the moral and responsible thing to do. He absolutely believed in it, too, and not one cynical muscle flexed on his face when he said so.
After most opposition groups died out, the remnants continued to fight against the app for a while, but failed to pass any meaningful legislation to curb the technological progress. Some critics argued that Baby Gaga played God, overreaching and leading the way to disaster; a stolid homogeneous society of dark skinned, blue eyed blonds, and additional exotic combinations. They argued it would lead to a prof
usion of unknown genetic diseases. But they also knew they could not overcome human nature.
The masses decided the matter long ago, and new ailments were already making an appearance, such as Acute Attention Deficit Disorder, or acute apathy that bordered on cerebral degeneration. This was coupled with a constant pushing of excitement thresholds. People sapped new experiences dry in record time and were always on the look for new challenges to keep their appetites satiated.
“The application is doing well beyond expectations,” Christoph told a gathered development team one day. “We need to think ahead and break through. Every celebrity on our roster will receive a regular compensation for appearing in the catalog, and an added bonus for every intellectual, physical or personality trait ordered. Everyone will be pleased: the happy parents, the proprietor of the genes who profits from the order, and us, of course.”
The team immediately went to work. Everyone on board sucked from this teat of happiness. People were optimists, and understood it was useless to wait for nature to run its course. Future parents jumped in with childish exuberance, added the app to their personal profiles and accessed it from wherever they were: the air pad - a hardware-less optic device everyone carried around - was used as a mobile interface unit for communication and media watching. They connected to the application every day. Some only played with the options, flirted with the next generation, while others were already planning a baby, and some even broke up after realizing they probably had the wrong partner for the job. One way or another, many of them spent days and nights switching between endless combinations, if only out of curiosity. They felt like kids in a giant candy store. The process combined anticipation, thrills, a wonderful consummation of the union, and as soon as the couple decided on all the options and pressed the ‘send’ button, the biological process began and all there was to do was wait the standard nine months for their designed baby to be incubated in one of Baby Gaga's many laboratories.
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