Early on, she had taught them the real meaning of Occam's razor. Developed by an English logician in the fourteenth century, Occam's razor was usually understood to mean that all things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. In Rosemary's view, this was, ironically, an oversimplification of the principle, and not an accurate or even useful interpretation. Nothing was simple, she maintained, and there's certainly nothing about a simple solution that makes it inherently more valid than a complex one. In fact, in her experience, the more variables, subtleties, vagaries, and contingencies that a system took into account, the more useful and reliable and realistic it was. Our penchant for simplicity — our need to reduce everything to good or bad, black or white, on or off — could rarely be imposed on the universe, no matter how hard we tried. If something seemed simple, you probably just weren't looking at it hard enough or peeling away enough layers to see what's really beneath.
The real meaning of Occam's razor, Rosemary believed, was that explanations and solutions should be free from elements which have no real bearing on the system in question — that solving problems isn't so much about simplifying them as it is about properly and realistically reducing them to only what's relevant. And one of the best ways to reduce a problem to only what's relevant is to throw away most of your assumptions about it. Nothing has misled researchers and impeded scientific progress more throughout history than incorrect and inappropriate assumptions and preconceptions.
Rosemary's personal aphorism, which she tirelessly worked to instill in her students, was "Question Everything."
* * *
The smell of the chemicals used in the water treatment process reminded Arik of his father. It was always in Darien's clothes and in his hair, and it made Arik think about when his father used to reach over him to help him with something in his workspace, or the smell of the breeze he made when he walked by. Most people considered the smell unpleasant, but it reminded Arik of home.
Rosemary's office was on the second floor of the Wet Pod, above the plant, at the top of an open metal staircase. When the door opened, the chemical smell was overwhelmed by the aroma of fresh coffee, and Arik remembered that Rosemary always had a fresh pot brewing even though she preferred tea. She used it to cover up the smell of the chemicals (which reminded her of work, not home), and to keep a steady flow of her staff coming and going so she could keep up with what they were working on without having to hold formal meetings. She told her class once that meetings were not actually for communicating, but for fixing breakdowns in communication. In a well-run work environment, communication should be constant and efficient and organic, and formal meetings should almost never be necessary.
"Come on in, Arik," Rosemary said warmly. "Thank you for coming."
She was seated in front of her workspace with her hands around a cup of tea. It was difficult to guess how old Rosemary was because her apparent age varied dramatically depending on what she was doing. When she was focused on something, the lines around her eyes and mouth became much more prominent, and her hair seemed to be more wiry gray than blond. But when Rosemary was passionate about something — when she was speaking and moving and smiling and gesturing — she assumed an extraordinary beauty, and was every bit as youthful as Arik.
The walls of the office were currently transparent which provided a spectacular view of the entire water treatment facility. Below them were complex networks of pipes, valves, pumps, and narrow catwalks woven around still pools of pure blue water. Darien had shown Arik around the Wet Pod several times as Arik was growing up, and some of Rosemary's classes had been held in her office, so none of this was new to him. He was much more interested in the intricate model of an entire pod system on a table in the middle of the room.
"I thought you might have some good advice for me on my first day," Arik said. He was helping himself to a closer look at the model, bending down and peering at it from several angles.
"I do, but it's going to cost you. First, I need your help. Do you know what that is?"
"No. It doesn't look like V1."
"It's not. It's V2. Or at least it's the current proposal."
"Is this to scale?"
"Yes. What do you see that's different from V1?"
"There's no greenhouse."
"Yes, that's the biggest difference. Anything else?"
"The water tower."
"Exactly. As you know, we use pumps to pressurize our water supply, but pumps use a lot of energy, and they're difficult to maintain. Since there are peaks and valleys in water demand, we have to use several different types of pumps so we can dynamically increase and scale back pressure as necessary. Worse than being inefficient, it's incredibly inelegant."
"So V2 is going to use a water tower instead?"
"That's what I'm proposing. Water towers use gravity to create all the pressure you need, regardless of demand. And you only need a single simple pump to refill it once a day from the clean water reservoir. It uses much less energy, and there's very little to maintain."
"Why doesn't V1 use a water tower?"
"There was no way to build one at the time. In truth, there still isn't, but I'll worry about that later. First, I have to prove that it's a good idea. What do you think?"
"I think it makes sense. The fewer moving parts, the better."
"Exactly. No truer words were ever spoken in the context of engineering."
"Why did you build a physical model?" Arik asked. "Why don't you just use computer models?"
"Ah, very good question, and precisely the reason I asked you to come. We do have computer models, but how would we know whether they were accurate without testing them against a physical model?"
"Why wouldn't they be accurate? This all seems pretty straightforward to me."
"I don't know why, but they aren't. Everything having to do with water storage and delivery is identical between the physical and computer models, and the physical model is perfectly to scale, yet the pressure sensors are showing higher levels of pressure than the computer models report."
"There must be a mistake in the physical model."
"Why the physical model? Why not the computer model?"
"Because hydrostatic formulas are very well understood and proven, so they can't be wrong. And computer models are much easier to analyze, so it's much more likely that the error would be in the physical model."
"True, but on the other hand, the physical model has the advantage of being real, and using actual gravity. Real-life physics is difficult to argue with."
"I guess it doesn't really matter where the problem is. All that matters is that there's an inconsistency that needs to be understood."
"Now you're looking at it the right way. Assuming the error is in one place or the other is more likely to mislead you than to expedite a solution. Unfortunately, I've been looking at it for two days, and I can't figure it out."
"You want me to try?"
"Please. Not right now, of course, but whenever you have time. I'd give the software models to the Code Pod to analyze, but you know what that process is like. It would take them months to get around to it, and then fifteen minutes to decide there's nothing they can do."
"Don't bother with them," Arik said. "I'll do it for you. Just copy everything I need into my workspace."
"Thank you, Arik," Rosemary said. "I know you have to get going, but there's one more thing."
"Sure."
"I want to give you a little advice about working in the Life Pod."
"Ok."
"You're going to be asked to solve some very difficult problems — problems that nobody else has had much luck with yet."
"I hope so."
Rosemary smiled. She put down her cup and watched Arik carefully. "All I can tell you is to trust your instincts. The reason nobody has been able to solve these problems isn't because they aren't solvable. It's because nobody has figured out the right way to think about them. Do you know what Albert Einstein's definition of insanity
was?"
"No."
"Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Arik nodded. He understood what she was telling him. She was alluding to everything she had taught Arik and Gen V about how to think — connecting her unconventional method of teaching with the need for Arik to think unconventionally in the real world. It wasn't his knowledge of software or botany or chemistry that would decide how successful he would ultimately be in the Life Pod; it was more important for him to focus on the things he didn't know. Sometimes knowledge can be a trap, Rosemary once said. It can just as easily obscure the truth as illuminate it.
"I understand."
"Good. Then I'll bet you can guess what my final piece of advice is."
"I think so," Arik said. "Question Everything."
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Emerald Eye of Venus
Orientation was held four days after Arik started working in the Life Pod. The Career Committee still had two days of hearings left, but the Director of the Environment Department had met her hiring quota, and wasn't expecting any additional personnel.
Arik spent his first four days in his lab. The new employees were asked not to go into the dome until they had an official tour, so there wasn't much else to do. He spent his time learning everything he could about botany, photosynthesis, human respiration, and V1's life support systems. He moved his workspace around the walls of his lab and alternated between standing and lounging as he read, watched video feeds, studied 3D models, and solved puzzles designed to test his comprehension and reinforce concepts. On the afternoon of the fourth day, he received an incoming video message. Subhashini's face appeared in the corner of his workspace and very cheerfully told her new employees to take the rest of the day off, but to be back first thing in the morning for orientation. Play time was over. The real work was about to begin.
The next day, all eight of the new employees stood as a group outside the entrance of the Environment Department. Although all but two of them had already started working and had even been assigned offices, this was their real initiation. There was a very palpable sense of anticipation and wonder among the group — even a sense of pride. Arik realized that this was the first time any of them would be seen as peers by the Founders. From today on, they would work side-by-side, solve the same problems, complain about the same mishaps, and share the same triumphs. He knew he would need to ask a lot of questions as he got acclimated to his work, but he also knew that it wouldn't be very long before his coworkers were coming to him.
The orientation was really about being given access to the dome. Although the small airlock that made up its entrance was not secured as far as Arik knew, only Life Pod employees were permitted inside. Arik guessed that no more than 100 people had ever set foot inside the dome, and only a very small percentage of those had any kind of real understanding of what they were looking at.
The dome was the heart of V1. It was located at its very core, and its job was nothing less than to pump V1 full of life in the most efficient and intelligent manner possible.
Arik had initially resented the Career Committee's refusal to allow him to pursue the Earth elevator, but after only a few hours in his new laboratory, and only a few minutes gazing through the hazy transparent barrier between the Life Pod and the dome, he succumbed to the excitement of the novel and the unknown. He realized that it wasn't the Earth Elevator itself that appealed to him so much as it was the challenge of the project, the opportunity to think creatively, and the promise of really making a difference. If working in the Life Pod could provide him with those things instead, he was prepared to fully commit himself.
Cadie stood beside Arik as they waited for orientation to begin. Their offices inside were next to each other, and when the polymeth wall that divided them wasn't fogged, they could see into each other's laboratories. Of course, this was an intentional arrangement; they needed their own spaces so that one might mix chemicals while the other optimized an algorithm, but they also needed to be able to easily collaborate. They could step into each others offices as necessary, or they could project their workspaces on both sides of the common polymeth wall in order to share ideas. So far they hadn't spent much time together, but they knew that the professional relationship they had established while working on the ODSTAR project would soon be applied to solving the real-world problems of the Life Pod.
The tour was to be given by the director herself. Her name was Subhashini Ramasubramanain, but she liked to be called Subha. Subha was an easygoing woman with an uncommon enthusiasm for her work. She was married to Priyanka, and seemed roughly the same age, but she had a much younger disposition which she partially expressed through her wardrobe. Everyone in V1 wore practical, lightweight, uniformly colored clothing made of nanofabrics which were compatible with V1's waterless ultraviolet sanitizing machines. Everyone, that was, except Subha. She was never seen without, at the very least, a long colorful cotton skirt, if not a full-length silk sari. How she got her clothes clean, only she and Priyanka knew.
Today she was wearing a maroon floral skirt with a white synthetic top. She came out from inside the Life Pod to meet her new employees with a wide, welcoming smile, bright against her dark complexion.
"Good mor-ning," she sang. "Is everybody here?" She counted them off with her index finger. "Great! Let's get started!"
Everyone arranged themselves into a line, and stepped through the door into the Life Pod entrance. Subha was walking backwards so she could face the group as they progressed through the tour.
"First of all, I want to welcome all of you to the Environment Department, and congratulate you on being chosen for such prestigious positions. All jobs in V1 are created equal, but I think we all know that some are created more equal than others."
The group liked that. Arik assumed that his peers were all hearing similar prepared remarks in a dozen other departments throughout V1 this week. There was a good-natured rivalry between pods which sometimes manifested itself as cricket matches in the Play Pod when time permitted. Subha seemed to be ensuring that the tradition would be passed down.
"The Environment Department is divided into two primary sections: the labs, and the dome. All of the labs are located on either side of this hallway with two supply rooms in the middle. Because of space limitations, your labs double as your offices, and unfortunately, some of you are being asked to share labs until we finish reconfiguring the space. We were hoping to have everything ready by the time you started, but the Infrastructure Department wasn't able to get it done in time, even under threat of having their oxygen rerouted."
The group was clearly relieved to find that their boss had a sense of humor. Arik liked Subha so far, but decided that he would reserve judgment. In his experience, some of the most vindictive people he had ever known had at one time seemed like the friendliest. It was impossible to know right away whether someone was a genuinely warm person, or whether she was simply comfortable working both ends of the social spectrum.
"Once you're assigned to specific projects, you'll have a better idea of what you need to research and who you'll be working with, so let's not worry about the labs right now. I think our time is much better spent this morning in the dome, don't you?"
The group agreed. They were standing at the end of the hallway in front of the small polymeth air exchange chamber that made up the entrance to the dome.
"Excellent. The first thing you'll notice is that you have to go through an airlock in order to get into the dome. The airlock helps maintain the environment inside so that oxygen levels can be more accurately monitored and controlled. Everything is completely automatic, so you don't have to do anything but wait. We're going to go in two at a time, and when you get inside, please stand with the group and wait for everyone to come through. René, you come with me."
Subha entered the airlock first, and René followed. They stopped just inside, and the door closed behind them. Their hair moved and their clothing rippled as ai
r was exchanged between the airlock and the dome. When the environment was stable, the door in front of them opened, and they stepped through to the other side. Arik saw René make a funny face as she looked around and sampled the air. Subha motioned for the next two to enter.
Since René had gone with Subha, there was an odd number in the group. Arik would have usually been the one to hang back and forego a partner, but it seemed fitting that he and Cadie should go through together. Arik had always wanted to take Cadie to the dome on a date, and had asked his father on a few occasions if it could be arranged, but they had never been given permission. So they did what all the other couples in Gen V did instead: immersed themselves in interactive 3D environments, played table tennis in the Play Pod, and idly rode the maglev from pod to pod, howling through the tunnels, hands laced together on the hard plastic seats.
The door closed behind them, and as soon as Arik heard the hiss of the air valves and smelled the gas that was filling the airlock, he panicked. His first thought was that something was malfunctioning and filling the chamber with some sort of exhaust. Rather than the cool pure smell he was expecting, the air was metallic and burnt. When the door in front of them opened, Arik found that the atmosphere inside the dome had the same curious tinge, and that the rest of the group was as perplexed as he was. Subha seemed to be savoring the moment. She was waiting to address it until everyone was through.
"Ok. Now, does anyone know what that smell is?"
"Fertilizer?"
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