Queen Zaria Trilogy

by Danny Dunn

  Now that we have the additional speed to expand our data sorting process, we need to push it to its limits. Zari suggests that they don't need everything. Zari suggests to his father that shouldn't the very first thing they do is to filter what is important and what can be filed and super compressed, just in case. Do we ever throw away anything?

  Henzar smiles and looks at Zari, yes, we will have Zaria tag items for probable discarding. The first step should be to tag it for possible references and place it into first level memory. Then, over the next day or so, while she is inactive, she can parse her files."

  Zari is aware of the many years his father and his father's father has invested in AI and asks his father's opinion. "Father, do you think I will be the one to perfect AI?”

  Zari's father, "Yes I do, Zari. I have little doubt about that."

  Zari "Why do you believe that?"

  Zari's father smiles and replies, "Zari, if I told you to take that heavy rock and run it as fast as you could to a point 100 sectors away in 5 minutes, do you think you are likely to meet the deadline."

  Zari "No, sir, I am too small and weak. That distance is too far, and the rock is too heavy."

  Zari's father tells young Zari, "That is true Zari, but if 100 strong men and women formed a 100 person relay to carry the rock, and they carried it swiftly to just short of the endpoint, and you have 15 years from now when you are bigger and stronger to move that rock across the finish line, could you get that rock across the line?"

  Zari "Yes, father, that I could do."

  Zari's father, "Zari, your grandfather and I, and thousands before he and I, have carried the rock for many decades and now the rock is getting very close to the finish line. You are young, very smart, focused, and full of energy. Your mother and I believe you are to be the one to carry the rock across the line. Not only that, we think you will be the one to use your creation to change the world for the better.

  Zari "Well, maybe so father, but I think I am going to start wheeling a cart around with me from now on." Zari's father chuckles.

  Zari's father, "That's the spirit Zari. It is my job to provide you with the programming skills you need to get the rock over the line. And it is your mother's job to give you the tools you will need to manage the rock once you get it across the finish line."

  Zari "Which of you has the more difficult task?" his father smiles.

  Zari's father tells his son, "I think in the end, your mother and I will end up having equal degrees of difficulty. The pressure on me is to make sure you have all the tools to get the rock over the line. Your mother's job is to give you the tools that will enable you to maximize the benefits of your invention for the citizens of the planet. The politicians and the rich will want to turn your design into weapons, and the rich will want to use it as a new tool to increase… Oops, I am in your mother's domain. I better stop there and stick to programming, lol.

  Zari's father praises Zari for his work for the day and tells him his mother has something special waiting for him. But first, Henzar tells Zari, we need to talk about securing our work. Take a look at this if you would. Henzar shows Zari a computer screen. It is a hack detection application that stops hack sand shows the status and totals. It shows that in the last 30 days, there have been 126 hack attempts. Henzar explains that even though no one knows of our innovations, our competitors are still trying to steal our work. I didn’t want to alarm you before, but it is time you know of a few matters.

  First, there are people, companies, and even governments who want our work for themselves and will go to great lengths to have it. I receive offers for large sums of money for Zaria several times per month. Zaria is not for sale, of course. There are many individuals, companies, and military leaders who would steal Zaria from us in the hopes of reverse-engineering her. I believe we have her to the point where they would not be able to break her code if they got their hands on, her, but we still need to try not to let that happen.

  Zaria asks if that is why we store Zaria in a safe and why we run cables for the screen and peripherals? Is that also why we always take two Zarias when we take her places and why drones are patrolling the property day and night?

  Henzar, yes. The second box we take on trips contains nothing more than a computer with GPS and transmitters to track the thieves. Both the fake Zaria and the real have a pretty cool suite of ways to detect if she is being stolen or hacked. Zaria is always reading all the RF signals around her. The moment Wi-Fi or other signals that are in her home area. As those signals change or drop off, she looks for familiar things like our phones, our computer signals, neighbor’s signals. If she is suspicious, she goes into one mode that pings us to confirm it is us. If she doesn’t hear from us, she starts tracking her whereabouts and begins sending out signals. One she is convinced she has been abducted, she goes into survival mode where she is sending out distress messages and calls but hacking every RF signal she can.

  Zari, wow, I never thought of that. Has anyone ever taken her? Henzar replies that yes. Someone robbed our house a few years ago and took the computer that was not in the safe, and they tried to pry the safe out of the basement, but it is a pretty heavy safe, so they were unsuccessful. As you get closer, there will be a time when she is really close to being perfect. That is when you will need to really be vigilant about protecting your work. But for now, I think we are pretty well covered.

  Zari smiles and walks outside and finds his mother in the garden planting some vegetables. Hello mother, Father said you have something special for me today. I am hoping it is not how to plant vegetable seeds in a garden,"

  Without looking up, Zari's mother smiles and replies with "I do have something special Zari, and it is not teaching you how to plant vegetable seeds, not today anyway. We are going to the waterfall today to use what you know so far to build your own society from scratch."

  Zari "Well, I do love the waterfall, and that does sound fun. So, let's go get me smarter so I can carry rocks when I get older."

  Zari's mother, "Your father has you carrying rocks?" She laughs, knowing her husband.

  Zari "Oh, you know how my father loves analogies."

  They both giggle and start their walk uphill to the waterfall, and they walk uphill for about 20 minutes. On the way, Zari's mother tells him stories about her parents and Zari's parents. They arrive at a beautiful waterfall that has formed a nice deep rounded pool over the millenniums. The deep pool of water makes an intense low-frequency sound as the water crashes into the pool. There is much plant life in every direction. Exotic birds occasionally call out, and their calls echo through the forest. There are several benches in the area, and they sit down at their usual spot. It is a wooden bench with a back that has Henzar's and Qari's names engraved into as well as the names of his parents and grandparents. Below their names, the engraving reads, "Peace and Equality for All."

  Zari, before we get into the real world, let's dream a little. Imagine yourself in a world where you have just developed the first A.I. being and can build a society from scratch. There is you, your A.I. and a group of citizens. There is no government, no countries, no weapons, no industry, and you get to be the leader. Tell me what you envision a beautiful life to be like and what you would do to ensure your new citizens of Zari get to enjoy a beautiful life.

  Hm, Zari says. "That sounds kind of fun."

  Zari tells her that his people shouldn't have to work so much like his friend's parents. So, they will only work half days? Is that ok, he asks? Qari tells him, yes, but that the citizens have to work enough to provide for their families and pay for whatever government that will exist to provide services for the citizens. The bigger the government gets, the more the citizens will have to work to support it.

  Zari, I see, ok, then we will have a small group to make all the decisions. Qari asks Zari how this small group of representatives is elected? Zari says that he would make voting required and that all the people will be required to vote. Qari smiles. Wait, mother. Do I get to use
my A.I. to make this up? Qari laughs, and replies, of course. Zari grins and says he will tell her my basic guidelines, and she will design the society for me.

  Qari "very good, then tell me what you would tell Zaria would be important to you." Zari tells his mother he would want Peace and Equality for every citizen. I want that to be our motto for making all our decisions. I want them to work less and to be able to spend lots of time with their kids like you and father do with me.

  Excellent Zari. You are off to a good start. Remember that every benefit provided by the government has a cost, and that cost is generally not cheap. The bigger the government, the more your citizens are going to have to work to support it. I would like you to give this some thought. Over time you will build your dream society.

  Here is a tool to help you. This comes from the current national budget we have discussed before. Imagine one big pile of coins on a table that represents all the money. Now take out 35% of the pile and place it in a small bucket labeled military. Now take out 30% and put it in a bucket labeled government. Now take out another 5% and put it into a bucket label government retirement. Now take out another 10% and call it debt interest. And another 10% and call it wealthy bank accounts. What is now left on the table is for 97% of the society to share among themselves. That is where we are now.

  So, as you build your society, think of the ways you can stop this from being the end result.

  Zari's Mother "Now let's talk about profits. Zari let's say someone invents something and becomes super-wealthy. First, what is wealth?

  Zari "wealth is the profit from selling its goods and services."

  Qari, "and what is profit?

  Zari "what is left over after the cost of goods and the overall expenses."

  Qari "And who pays for that person's wealth? Where did that wealth come from?"

  Zari "I would think the profits would come from the customers that bought the product."

  Zari's Mother tells Zari, "Very good. Now let's say that the company wants to increase its profits. How do they increase their profits.”?

  Zari "Well, they raise prices to increase margin, or lower prices to increase sales, or lower costs or some combination of the three."

  Zari's Mother compliments Zari and helps guide him. "Very good, so when the company has done all they can to adjust their sales price to get the most margin possible; and they have lowered their cost of goods all they can, what can they still do to increase profits." your hint is that it is one of the most significant cost line items of almost every company."

  Zari "Employees? Ah, so they can still cut wages and benefits; cut the number of workers; get fewer workers to work faster."

  Zari's Mother "Yes, so as the companies get bigger and continue to need higher profits, where do they go to get them? "

  Zari "Wages and benefits."

  Zari's Mother "Very good, so now, who is helping to pay for the company to have higher profits?

  Zari "Well, at this point, it would appear to be the workers are at least contributing to their increased profits."

  Zari's Mother "So when a company has amassed incredible wealth, who has paid for a good portion of that wealth?"

  Zari "The workers."

  Zari's Mother "But Zari, in a free market there has to be wealthy and poor. It is just a fact of life in a free-market environment. At the moment Zari, the scale is very far from balancing.

  "One of the dangerous components of a free market is that, because the workers are helping to create the wealthy, the workers slowly become weaker and less powerful. At the very same time, the rich become more prosperous. The rich then use their wealth to buy influence from their politicians. That influence buys favoritism by the politicians to write laws that benefit the rich like. For example, more employer-friendly labor laws, reduction of employee safety requirements; elimination of planet preservation laws; and my favorite; tax laws that favor the rich.

  Then the politicians write laws that enable themselves to stay in office longer, such as; complicating the voting process, increasing the difficulty for the poor to vote, reshaping voting districts. Then there is the changing of the laws that enable the politicians to get rich while in office. Did you know that a senator's wealth doubles every two years they are in office? And no one seems to ask how that happens?

  "Zari, it is very likely that you will someday be on the wealthy side of the equation. What do you think you could do to help bring the scale back to an even balance?

  Zari "Well, I could take my wealth and give it back to the workers and the poor."

  Zari's mother, "Your father, was doing precisely that Zari. But your father found there is a flaw in that practice Zari. The flaw in giving your money away is that nothing was gained to benefit the poor for the long term. All you have done is to postpone solving the problem. You should always help the poor but provide them with long term solutions.

  Your father gave incredible amounts of money to the poor in his lifetime. But what he realized near the end was, the more he gave to the poor, the more the rich took from the poor. In the end, he was, in a way, giving his money to the rich. Then, when you run out of money, you are right back where you started, but no longer have money to help the poor. Giving back to society and to the poor should always be a part of what you do Zari but helping them find solutions to problems is as important as solving their short-term problems.

  What else can you do for the poor?"

  Zari "I can avoid cutting the worker's wages and benefits."

  Zari's Mother "Well, but what if your competition is cutting their costs to lower their prices to the point where you can no longer sell your product at a profit?

  Zari "Then I think it is time to go find another rock to push, I guess."

  Zari's mother smiles. "You are a sweet soul Zari. "Your father and I believe that it will be you to perfect A.I. Zari. We believe that your wealth will overshadow all others in history. Zari, your father, and I hope you find a way to use your wealth to tip the balance in favor of the workers. Or, to at least get it to start in that direction anyway.

  "We will hope that you will not just add yourself to the list of those who amass more than they need just because they can, without thinking of the many poor who sacrificed much for their companies to succeed.

  "Your homework for the day is to think of 3 ways for a person with great wealth to help the unfortunate long term. Do you understand?

  Zari "Yes, mother. I think I do."

  Zari's Mother "Zari, don't be afraid to make a profit. You are going to need wealth to achieve your destiny. Earn every unit you can as fast as you can. You will know when you have enough to begin changing the world.

  "It is what you do with the opportunity that determines what kind of man you are.”

  Zari "I understand Mother, I do have a question for you. Are you done preparing me to manage the rock after I carry it over the border? That waterfall is looking very inviting at the moment."

  Zari's Mother "Oh Zari, you are such a sweet, gentle soul. Yes, let's go play."

  Two years later, Zari is being interviewed by a local Tech magazine show on a local T.V. station. Zari looks around the room, measuring everything as he waits for the show to begin. Zari's father drove him there while Zari's mother is at the University.

  T.V. Interviewer "Well this morning we have a young man who, at the age of 11, has become one of the top Artificial Intelligence Programmers in the world. The interviewer greets Zari

  "Good morning, Zari, how are you today?"

  Zari is all smiles and very excited to be there to show his new version of his project and replies that he is doing very well. Zaria then tells the interviewing is was nice of him to ask.

  T.V. Interviewer "Zari, tell us where we are at this point with A.I. programming."

  Zari "After over 260 years of innovations by many dedicated scientists, I believe we are on the cusp of finally perfecting A.I. It is a fascinating time to be in the industry for sure."

  T.V. Intervie
wer "Zari, your father is also a leading A.I. programmer, how has he helped you to get where you are today. "

  Zari "Yes, both my mother and father are very generous and talented people and have dedicated their lives to ensure I make the best of my life on this planet and to do my best to follow two codes. The first code to honor Universe, Planet, Society, Self in that order. The next code for me to follow is, Peace and Equality for All."

  Interviewer "Your mother is a well-known Economics professor at the University near you. How has she influenced your development?"

  Zari "Yes, they tag team me every day. They are each very good in their respective fields. I can see that I am very fortunate to have two parents so very skilled in their professions and who are choosing to invest much of their time preparing me for life."

  Zari smiles and continues, "My father focuses on the programming and plans on me helping him to carry large rocks in the garden soon, from what I understand, and then in the afternoon my mother teaches me about economics and many of the other aspects of my life to come."

  The interviewer smiles and pauses for a moment. It is hard for the interviewer to believe his subject is only 11. He looks over at the proud father and smiles.

  T.V. Interviewer "Zari, I understand you have something to show us today. Could you please tell us about your project.”?

  Zari "Yes, I do." Zari slides a box into the view of the T.V. camera.

  Zari "This is the first time I am showing Zaria on T.V. so that she might be a bit shy."

  T.V. interviewer "Zaria, is it named after you."

  Zari "No, I am Zari, Zaria was to be the name of my younger sister. She died at birth, so I thought it would be a nice way to ensure she is not forgotten."

  T.V. Interviewer "Are you sure you are only 11?" Zari smiles.

  T.V. Interviewer "What can Zaria do?"

  Zari "She is looking forward to her first T.V. interview, Interview her, and you will see. She has a built-in camera and microphone, so she can see you and hear you speak."