by David Archer
“Very well. Ms. Raines, if you would stand right over here with your back to me—yes, just like that. You will be my machine, and I’ll use my voice to operate you. Now, Ms. Miller. Would you be so kind as to slap me in the face?”
Jade giggled. “Oh, come on, Doctor,” she said. “You’re not quite that annoying.”
“Well, thank you for the backhanded compliment,” Prentiss said, “but I’m trying to make a point. What I want you to do is come and stand close to me and, without giving me any direct warning, give me a light slap. Seriously, a light slap will be more than sufficient, by the way. I’ll be watching you, but I’ll make no effort to stop you myself. Instead, I’ll instruct my machine, Ms. Raines, to defend me.”
Jade, still smiling, took her position. “And you don’t want me to warn you, right?”
“That’s correct,” Prentiss said, and Jade immediately swung her hand at his face. “Ms. Raines, please…”
Jade stopped with her hand touching Doctor Prentiss’ cheek. Summer spun around, and simply stood there grinning.
“And now,” Prentiss said, “please try to slap me again, but this time I’m not going to rely on my machine, because she was just too slow.”
Jade pulled her hand back and stood there, smiling at Summer, and then suddenly swung her hand again. This time, Prentiss reached up and caught her wrist in his own hand, stopping her before she could reach his face.
“Excellent, ladies, thank you. Do you see the point I was trying to make? By allowing my consciousness to take direct responsibility for protecting me, I was able to defend myself effectively. When I was relying on an external defense, the very slight delay required for me to command that defense and have it respond was enough to allow a potentially dangerous threat to strike me. Don’t look offended, Ms. Miller, I have no doubt you can slap quite hard if you choose to. Do you see?”
“I get it,” Summer said. “This chip actually allows the operator to sort of move his consciousness directly into whatever avatar he’s using. Right?”
“That’s correct. As a result, he or she can make decisions and take actions much faster than by handling controls. The pilot thinks about what might happen to the airplane he is flying; the operator of an avatar, on the other hand, is thinking about what might happen to himself. That simple shift in thinking allows them to react up to five times faster to any detected threat. It's an absolutely remarkable achievement.”
“It certainly is,” Jade said. “And thank you for that little demonstration. I think I’ve finally got my head wrapped around it. I’d like to move on to something else, now, if we may. I spoke with Mr. Prichard back in our headquarters a while ago, and he told me about something Mrs. McGill remembered. Apparently, she overheard her husband talking on the phone about the chip, and he said something about how, if the chip was implanted in someone’s head, it could lead to taking over the world. Any idea what he might have meant by that?”
Prentiss laughed. “Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s what science fiction writers have been talking about for God knows how long. One of the potential benefits of this technology is what it will do for artificial intelligence. Imagine what it will mean when people start to realize that they can literally make a copy of themselves and upload it to a computer. People have been saying for years now that artificial intelligence would spell the end of humanity, but it’s actually the other way around. As we develop computers that are capable of artificial intelligence, then it becomes not only possible but practical to make a copy of ourselves that will essentially be immortal.”
“Yes, but who would want to be immortal if they were stuck in a computer?”
“Ms. Raines, you make being stuck in a computer sound like a bad thing. Realistically, that computer could be programmed to create a virtual reality for you to exist in quite comfortably; did you ever see The Matrix? However, I’m actually talking about avatars. The day will come when those who can afford it will want a chip and an avatar robot, so that their tired, frail, or obese bodies won’t have to get up and do anything. They can sit at home and relax physically while running errands or doing chores with the avatar body, so why not take it one step further? Why not simply put a copy of yourself into a computer so that it can operate the avatar, so that at least a major part of you will live on even after you’re gone? Now, I ask you, how much of a stretch of the imagination is it to conceive of one of these copies of a human mind getting into, oh, let’s say into a major governmental computer center. Can you imagine what would happen if someone could gain absolute, irretrievable control over all of our computer-controlled systems? We’re talking about defense, utilities, traffic patterns, communication—yes, it’s quite possible that someone who could live inside a computer could take over the world.”
Walter shook his head. “Doesn’t have to live in the computer,” he said.
Jade, Summer, and Steve all turned to him. “What do you mean, Walter?” Steve asked.
“He doesn’t have to live in the computer,” Walter said. “All he has to do is have the chip. Every one of those computers can be reached through the internet, that’s how they connect to each other. Through servers. Somebody with the chip, if they knew anything about hacking, could get into all of them at once and even cover up their trail so nobody could find out where they were. Somebody with the chip could blackmail any city or country in the world, because they could cut off the power or communications or shipping, or maybe even launch a missile at anyone who didn’t obey or surrender.”
Prentiss raised his eyebrows a notch. “He’s right,” he said with a sigh. “That’s something we’ve known, but never allowed to be expressed outside of our R&D discussions. Anyone with the gen-5 chip could conceivably do exactly that. I don’t know if there’s any evidence that’s what’s going on right now, but it’s definitely a possibility.”
“And it would explain why somebody would go to such extraordinary lengths to get their hands on it,” Summer said. “Tell me, Doctor Prentiss, does the possibility that you have unleashed a monster like that on the world trouble you at all?”
“Trouble me? Why should it? We’re talking about something that’s inevitable, it’s bound to happen. What does it matter who brought it into existence?”
22
Sam had left Ron’s office and went back to the conference room. “Hey,” he said after knocking and peeking inside. “You folks want some coffee or anything? I’m headed to the break room, we got all kinds of stuff down there.”
Pat looked at Becky, who nodded. “Sounds good. I sure could use a cup.”
They followed Sam down the hall, and he showed them where everything was. Pat and Sam opted for coffee, while Becky was delighted to see a cappuccino machine. “Swiss mocha,” she moaned. “Oh, yeah.”
The three of them started toward a table, and Sam spotted Joel. “Joel? Mind if we join you?” The young man smiled and pointed to the chairs around his table, and they took seats.
“Joel, this is Pat Gordon and Becky McGill,” Sam said. “Becky is the widow of Steven McGill, and she’s come to help in our investigation. Pat is a friend of hers who came along, and he’s got some experience that makes him helpful to us, as well. Pat, Becky, this is Joel Streeter. Joel works for CerebroLink, and he’s actually got one of the chips in his head right now.”
Pat’s eyebrows rose but he extended a hand, and Joel shook it. “Good to meet you,” Joel said. “Mrs. McGill, I overheard enough from Sam to know he was worried about you getting here safely. I’m glad you made it.”
“Yeah, so am I,” Becky said, chuckling. “Got pretty hairy there at the end. If it hadn’t been for Mr. Prichard thinking ahead, they might have got us just down the street from here.”
“All I did,” Sam said, “was try to think like the people who wanted to stop you. It was pretty obvious you were coming toward us, so the logical thing to do would be to set some people around us to try to spot you before you got in the door. I didn’t exactly expect them to try to shoot yo
u in broad daylight, but I sent some of our own security people out to keep the same watch, and try to protect you from being grabbed or whatever.”
“Well, it paid off,” Pat said, “and I’m grateful. Can you tell me where we’re at on this thing?”
Sam grimaced, but there was humor in it. “Well, we now know, thanks to Becky, that we were barking up the wrong tree, but it looks like we’re on the right one, now. We believe that whoever bought the chip is making a different version of it that will be their own design, and planning to have it placed into someone within the next few days, so they can claim it as their own invention. If they pull it off the way they seem to have it planned, there may not be anything we can do to prove it was ever stolen from C-Link.”
“Can’t I help?” Becky asked. “I mean, if I testify that Mac arranged to steal it, won’t that help them prove it?”
“Not really,” Sam replied. “You could only testify to what you know, which is that your husband was planning to steal something, and that he did deliver something. Unfortunately, since you weren’t entirely privy to the details, there is not convincing proof to a jury that this particular chip is what he stole.”
“But what about the research? I heard him tell the buyer that they were getting all of it, including the design of the chip. Wouldn’t that be enough evidence that the new chip was probably based on that design?”
“Rules of evidence,” Pat said. “Proving that something is ‘probably’ based on their design doesn’t prove that it actually is. It wouldn’t be enough to make a court rule in their favor.”
“Pat’s right,” Sam said. “I’m afraid our only hope lies in finding the buyers in possession of the original chip and the design. That would be conclusive evidence of industrial espionage, and make their claims of originality invalid.”
“What’s the chance of that?” Joel asked suddenly. “Are you even close?”
Sam grinned. “We think so,” he said. “I’m not ready to say exactly what we’re doing, but we’ve got a fair chance of finding it if we’re right about who got it, and Mrs. McGill gave us a lead that seems pretty solid at the moment. We’ll know more within the next couple of days, but right now all we can do is keep working on every other possible angle.”
Joel suddenly closed his eyes, and Sam got the feeling he was trying to figure out what Sam wasn't saying. For the first time, Sam wondered just who Joel was before he became a guinea pig for the BCI chip.
“Joel,” he said, acting on the thought.
Joel’s eyes popped open instantly, and he smiled.
“Yes?”
“I’m just curious, but how did you come to be the test subject for the gen-4 chip? Were you working at C-Link already, or did you answer an ad?”
“Oh,” Joel said. “I was working there. I was actually in the marketing department, my job was to run the social media campaign. I posted stuff on Facebook and Twitter and Reddit and all that kind of stuff. When they decided to do the implants, they put the word out through the company first, and I was one of about eighty people who volunteered. I got the first one, and Mindy Weathers got the second.”
“Mindy Weathers?” Sam asked. “A woman? How is she doing with hers?”
“About like me, I guess. She’s back at the company, involved in the ethics department. Her job is to help them figure out what the ethical issues of BCI will be as it evolves.”
“That’s not a job I’d want,” Sam said with a wry grin. “I can already see a lot of problems with it, even without all the doomsday scenarios that the conspiracy theorists are bound to come up with.”
Joel smiled. “It’s not all bad,” he said. “The main ethical problem is the matter of human perception of control. Humans have always felt that they were in control of the world and their lives, even though it’s easy to show that none of us ever really are. There are too many variables to human existence, like how our individual experiences shape our developing personalities, the environment we live in, what drugs are currently in use in any given area, the weather, crime, poverty… There’s an endless list of factors that affect at least some parts of our lives, and there’s no possible way to gain control over all of them without sealing yourself into a bomb-proof canister. Even then, an earthquake or nuclear war could affect you, so there’s nothing certain. Now, we introduce the concept of melding human and machine, and people are going to immediately start to think the machine part is going to take over the human part. That’s not true, but try to convince the average person of that.”
“So, how do you bring ethics into the equation?”
“The goal back at C-Link is to show that BCI is the only way to actually gain control over your life. If you had a chip, like I told you earlier, you can stay home nice and safe while your robot avatar goes out into the world to do what you have to do. It’s still you doing it, but if the robot gets hit by a car and destroyed, you don’t end up with medical bills or a trip to the morgue. All you have is the inconvenience of having to file an insurance claim and get a new robot. See?”
Sam, Pat, and Becky stared at him. “So,” Sam said, “C-Link actually plans to make these chips available to the general public?”
“Oh, yeah,” Joel said. “Dr. Prentiss says it’s going to be just like any other new technology. For a while, people resisted the idea of horseless carriages, claiming they were unnatural. After they got used to cars you could drive, then they fought the idea of flying, because it was unnatural. When television came along, people said it would drive you crazy, and on and on. When we got cell phones, we saw the same pattern again, as a few people embraced the technology while most said it was just a way for the government to spy on everyone. This will go down the same path; for a while, most people will say it’s evil or unnatural, and only a few people will embrace it, but over time it’ll become as common as having your cell phone in your pocket.”
The three of them sat and stared at the young man for several seconds. “What about privacy?” Sam asked. “Won’t having the chip mean that someone could find out what you’re thinking?”
Joel scowled. “Well, theoretically, yes. It's possible that someone could, for example, download the search history in my phone and be able to tell what I’m thinking about, and it would even be possible to record my actual thoughts, to some degree. But that would still be protected under the fourth amendment to the constitution, and would require a warrant.”
Sam stared at him for a few seconds longer. “I think I prefer knowing that there is no warrant that could possibly get my private thoughts and memories. I mean, I’m human. I can’t sit here and say I've never had a thought that, had I acted on it, might have sent me to prison. I’d hate to think someone could read my chip or my phone or whatever and find that. This kind of thing could lead to laws that make it a crime to think about committing a crime, and humans are just too volatile for that.”
“Of course,” Joel said. “That’s the natural reaction that most people will have to this new technology, but it won’t last. Eventually, just as it happened with the automobile, the airplane, and every other new invention, the majority will accept it, and those who don’t will die off over time. There’s no other possibility, but don’t start planning your escape to the wilderness just yet. So far, we’re predicting that it will take at least thirty years for the technology to be approved and made available to the general public, and even then it will be so expensive that only a small percentage of the population will be involved. You’ll be an old man before you even have to make the decision, but your children and theirs will almost certainly want the chip.”
Joel leaned forward and his eyes seemed to brighten. “Imagine what it will be like for them. You have to drive your own car, cook your own meals, go out and go to work every day to make a living, carry a cell phone everywhere so you can keep in touch with your family, check your Facebook posts, read your email and do so many other things. But your kids? They’ll know instantly what’s going on throughout the world, and they n
ever have to lift a finger to do anything unless they want to. Robots will be so advanced by then that it won’t even be necessary to control them; they’ll just tell their robot to go make spaghetti for dinner, and it will, while they sit back and review the latest movie inside their heads. And movies? Instead of just watching them, they’ll be able to choose one of the characters and be in it, actually live out that part. We play MMORP games now where we each play a part in a battle or some other scenario, but your kids will play them in absolute virtual reality, so real that it’ll seem like they’re really there.”
“But wouldn’t that mean you could really get hurt?” Becky asked, her face white.
“No, no. If your character gets shot in a game now, you see a red flash on the screen; your kids, though, they’ll feel something hit them; not painfully, but they’ll know instantly that they’ve been hit. When the character dies now, you see it fall and the screen fades out, but when it dies in the games of the future, you’ll suddenly be surrounded by angels or ghosts, who tell you that you have to go back and try again.”
“Joel…” Sam began, but the young man was not finished.
“And all of this, all of it, will mean that you won’t ever really die, ever! As we learn more about BCI, we’ll find ways to not only copy our minds, but to actually move it from the organic brain to the electronic one! We’re talking real, honest-to-goodness immortality, with robot avatar bodies that can touch and feel just like the original. There’s absolutely no limit to what we can achieve with this technology, Sam.”
“That’s what worries me, Joel,” Sam said. “How do you control something that almost turns you into what people think of as a god? How do you prevent it from becoming hell on earth?”
“But it won’t be! When there’s no need for competition, there won’t be any wars. When everyone is immortal, there won’t be any jealousy. When everyone can do anything they want, there can be peace!”
“I disagree,” Sam said. “If we end up in this world you’re talking about, where people live forever in electronic form, the basic concepts of human nature say that we’ll only develop new ways to fight. Maybe instead of guns, we’ll use power surges to kill our enemies, but it won’t stop just because we don’t have flesh and blood.”
