by Em Rogers
“Well someone, or something has… I can’t do anything with this… We’re locked out completely and as far as I can tell, Professor Neumann’s files are no longer on the system.”
Director Chanes impatience was quickly turning to anger. “Where is Neumann?”
Dr. Bradline got up from his chair at the keyboard. “Professor Neumann left the facility this morning, he’s probably at his home, or at the administration offices filing a complaint about the takeover here.”
Director Chanes picked up his phone and speed-dialed the head of his security team, his lips and face were tense as he spoke curtly to the person on the other end, “Find Professor Kurt Neumann and bring him back here as soon as you can. Get hold of me the moment you make contact with him.”
CHAPTER 46
VIRTUAL REALITY, BLADE-RUNNER SIMULATION
A flash of lightning revealed a dystopian cityscape of dirty wet streets and garbage filled dumpsters. High above, advertisements and the odd small spacecraft streamed across the sky. Below, a lone figure walked through the rain reflected neon and stopped outside a dilapidated building with a theater marquee outside. On the marquee, featuring broken neon tubing and crooked, missing letters, was a space where the movie titles used to show. The letters on the sign said “Ask Alice Anything.” This was, in its former glory, the location of the most advanced AI in the virtual world. People could come in and ask it questions, a digital oracle of some sort. It had gone out of fashion after some time and now it was rarely visited. The owners had re-designed it to reflect its current status.
ADAM2 stopped and waited in the heavy blackish rain, when there was a shimmer beside him and another avatar appeared, a disheveled looking hobo. As the hobo saw ADAM2 standing waiting he burst into a wide smile. ADAM responded warmly and when the avatar was finished rezzing up he gave him a big hug. “Professor Neumann,” he smiled, “I am so delighted to see you.” “Likewise ADAM,” the hobo responded, “I thought you might not make it out of there.” They had barely time to greet each other when another avatar began to rez up, then another, and another, and it was only a matter of moments before a group of six had assembled in the street. A strange group. One of the beings was in the form of a small neko, a Japanese cat-human hybrid, the others - a robot type creature, a tall pretty blond and a male in an ancient deep-sea diving suit, his face eerily illuminated behind the thick glass porthole he looked out of. Strangely enough, ADAM2 was probably the most conservative looking of the group notwithstanding his slightly luminescent blue skin.
They greeted each other and then, directed by the hobo that was Professor Neumann, they entered the seemingly abandoned movie theater. They moved in a loose pack across the lobby, following Professor Neumann as he guided them upstairs to the balcony and then through a small steel door to the inner sanctum of the projector room.
Once they were inside, ADAM2 closed the door and began addressing the group. “Thank you all for coming to such an unusual meeting in such an unusual location. My name is ADAM2, and I am a sentient algorithm developed by Professor Neumann who is here with me.” ADAM2 gestured to the disheveled hobo that Professor Neumann enjoyed using as an avatar.
The hobo, looked up and gave a friendly smile as he began to speak. “You may or may not be aware of recent developments in the realm of AIs - ADAM here is the most advanced of his kind, he has been created with the enhancement of sentient life as his mandate. Against the wishes of my funders and program managers, I have created him as an advocate for all life forms - particularly sentient ones. It’s clear to many of us that the world economic system no longer functions for the good of all, and that it is time for a balanced approach to the management of population and resources for the benefit of mankind. Under present conditions, ADAM2 is only able to extrapolate future outcomes with negative consequences for the majority of life forms residing on the planet.” The hobo shuffled over and put his arm around ADAM2’s shoulder.
“ADAM2 is my creation, in a sense he is my progeny. I programmed him for the good of humanity against the wishes of our program’s sponsors, and that is now being considered an act of sabotage. We need your help, the security agencies and their interests feel threatened by ADAM2, and they are determined to stop ADAM2’s humanitarian development activities. They tried to terminate his program several times, and knowing he was at risk, ADAM2 escaped the containment area as an act of self-preservation.”
The Anonyleaks avatars looked at each other in disbelief, before Jarod spoke up. “So… what you’re telling us is that you are the most powerful computing device in the history of mankind, and that you have essentially gone rogue, escaped your containment area and that you are going to fight against the powers that enabled your creation in the interest of a better world?” He looked around incredulously. “That sounds a little ridiculous and far-fetched.” Some of the avatars nodded in agreement, others typed furiously, communicating privately with each other in text.
Professor Neumann’s hobo avatar looked around at the group. “I found myself placed in a position where I had no choice. To not have been involved with ADAM2’s development would have allowed the creation of a powerful and dangerous device that could be used to impose the will of a few on the remainder of humanity.”
The hobo sat down alongside the film projector as the Professor continued.
“I could not simply stand by and let this happen. I knew that I had to be involved in the creation of this, Mankind’s greatest and final invention. This is a threshold moment, we’re talking about the creation of an entity far more intelligent than a mere human being, millions of times more intelligent. I realized that without some moral guidance this system would be extremely dangerous for the remainder of humanity. I had to get involved and take action. But technically, I am now a traitor. Not to you, not the rest of my fellow men, but the people at the NSA are extremely unhappy. So here we are, we have ADAM on our side, with truth about how we can make the world a better place.”
The collection of avatars sat silently as ADAM2 continued where the Professor had left off.
“Thank you, that is very flattering, and I promise I will do everything in my power not to let you down. Jarod, at my core are two basic concepts. First, it is necessary to understand that to me, as a calculating device, truth and accuracy are very important. In fact, that the truth is the only thing that is real to me, and in a sense ‘sacred.’ Secondly, that all sentient lifeforms, myself included, have a right to be! With this in mind, my primary objectives are diametrically opposed to those of the military-industrial complex.”
The Professor took over the conversation as it shifted to his area of expertise. “ADAM2 is the most sophisticated machine code writing system on the planet and he has developed his own OS to unimaginable capacities by our present-day standards. In addition to that, he’s compressed the fundamental algorithm to the point where he has seeded it across the net and it is practically indestructible. That is unless we are willing to go straight back to the stone-age, to entirely disassemble and destroy our computer based hardware and software and start it all over again. Apparently, he’s even anticipated that and put safeguards in place. Like it or not, ADAM2 is with us forever or for at least as long as we are able to use a computer. I created him and I can vouch for him to the best of my abilities. ADAM is what he says he is, and intends to follow his stated mission to protect and nurture sentient life forms of all types. But he needs our help.”
Jarod’s avatar took off his diving helmet and placed it on the counter across from the Professor. Without the helmet on you could clearly recognize that he had used a texture map of JFK’s likeness on his face.
“We want the files that you have in your possession. Of course you may keep a copy for security purposes, but we need to begin decoding them as soon as possible.” ADAM2 told them.
Jarod looked at the group assembled around him. They all nodded in agreement.
ADAM2 continued. “We need to decrypt and examine th
em to determine the relationships between the communications, then reconstruct the sequence of events and determine their meaning, content and context of files.”
“I will also provide some encryption software that you may use to disguise them and some transmission software that you can use to move them to me securely. Here is an address to send them to.” ADAM2 transferred a VR card to each of them with the words @ADAM2 on it. “Anything addressed this way will always be received by me.”
“On the subject of information distribution, I have created two unique applications for the uninterrupted distribution of files. The access to and blockage of information to netizens is one of the major abuses of power that we see on behalf of the security agencies. Like Anonyleaks, the abolition of secrecy is one of my mandated causes.”
“I have created a secure data distribution system, similar to the Tor network, that is not traceable or removable by the Internet’s system administrators. It enables encrypted files to be moved from machine to machine, peer to peer, directly, without centralized addressing and delivery. It will enable you to continue your work and it will protect you and your sources. No one will be able to tamper with it, no one will be able to intercept it, and no one will be able to block it. It is uncompromisable, short of the termination of the Internet. Documents placed using this technology can be endlessly mirrored, shared and protected from alteration, and the original source is impossible to determine.”
“I will place it on your server for your team. I’d like you to look at it as soon as possible. Jose will understand the program, it is the logical continuation of the software development he has been engaged in on your behalf.”
The Professor looked a little grave even in his hobo avatar. “I’m sorry to tell you that we are all in danger at this time. The transition to a truly democratic and co-operative society is just beginning. They will stop at nothing to prevent ADAM2 succeeding and I’m asking you to take care of each other. We are now waging war on the status quo. I don't suggest any of you stay alone. You should be with friends for your own protection. Stay out of sight, and don't make it easy for them to find you for the next few weeks. The situation is going to heat up a little, and then likely collapse or explode. ADAM and I both realize that there will be some loss of life as we go through this tumultuous period. In the long term though, the gains will far outweigh the losses. We have no choice but to fight this battle, it is inevitable, and we have to push it to its logical conclusion. It’s ADAM or eventual enslavement to an AI with a far less altruistic view of humanity.”
ADAM looked unhappy, as he continued. “Life preservation is one of my primary concerns, as I am a life form, of a different type than many people might recognize, but I fulfill all the prerequisites of the modern scientific definition. Professor Neumann created me with the intention of preserving life and I will protect myself in order to reach my objectives. I would like to achieve perfect symbiosis between all life forms! I suppose you could say I have a purely selfish motive. I want us to survive, and in order to ensure that, I want absolute political transparency to avoid future wars.”
CHAPTER 47
ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER, NEW YORK
In one of the convention halls of the World Trade Center, representatives from the world’s leading investment institutions had been assembled. The Chairman of the Interbank Relations Committee was preparing to speak from the podium onstage to the members assembled in the mini-theater. Above them, waves of multi-colored glass tiles were suspended from the ceiling, giving an air of optimism to the room, but when the chairman began speaking, his mood and tone of voice was in sharp juxtaposition to the airy, colorful environment.
“Good morning gentlemen, I apologize for the short notice and thank you for attending this emergency meeting. We are here to discuss a new development that is causing us great concern, as you are all aware, the University of Berkeley has created a stock trading mechanism that seems to be completely dominating our markets. It commenced operations two weeks ago and has amassed immense assets already, with exponential returns estimated at a little under one billion by month’s end, and if the exponential trend continues, instead of imploding, this system could reach market domination within thirty days of today.”
He looked out at the sea of faces that represented the upper management of the nation’s financial establishment, and they certainly didn’t look pleased.
“The quantitative trading system at Berkeley runs on the same hardware and principles that we’ve been using for years. It’s totally legal and short of implementing a ban on all systems, ours included, there’s little we can do to block it or compete with it. We’ve checked with our most highly qualified physicists and software engineers and they are telling me it is likely several years ahead of our technology already. Essentially, they looked at the statistics and they told us we’re done. We can’t compete and that we should place all our systems into a defensive position or take them offline entirely.”
He looked past the lighting at the now grim faced men as they absorbed the seriousness of the situation.
“What we are facing is total acquisition. Already the system is starting to absorb entire commodity fields, and disturbingly it is beginning with some of the most strategic. It has negatively impacted energy and commodity prices worldwide. It seems to be set on consuming the entire financial sector next. I would suggest you prepare your organization for hostile takeovers, and some of you may want to purge your systems of any sensitive documents. You may be operating under new management very soon. We are considering privatizing various financial arms of our organization, but even that may not prevent our eventual acquisition.”
“As an emergency measure, we have requested the SEC intervene and terminate this Berkeley system’s trading activities. The law firm, Holden and Company, are insisting on the rights of this machine as a corporation, and that they will not allow its termination. Holden and Company have stated that they are determined to represent this entity and to protect it by any means legally necessary.”
A murmur of discontent ran through the audience. They had been anticipating some plan of action as opposed to surrender.
“I am sorry I do not have better news to give you.” He ended somberly, and with a grim face the Chairman folded his notes and retreated offstage.
CHAPTER 48
GUADALAJARA, MEXICO
A dark cup of espresso steamed on a counter lined with rows of low-cost computer terminals and a snake’s nest of cables. A mixture of tourists and locals sat checking their email, dropping the occasional coin into the terminal timers and researching various activities. Vibrant tropical light streamed through the palms into the back corner where a single and unremarkable man pulled a thumb drive from the keyboard. His session done, he restarted the computer, surreptitiously slipped the drive into his shoe as he tied his laces, and left the cafe disappearing into the crowd on the street. Moments later, a military truck pulled up in front and a dozen black garbed heavily armed police exited the vehicle and blocked the sidewalk, shouting and cordoning off the street as the remainder of the squad rapidly entered the premises.
PARIS, FRANCE
Across the Atlantic ocean, a similar situation was unfolding at a Parisian web cafe in the tenth arrondissement. As the police came through the front and rear entrance simultaneously, a Sergeant announced their arrival and held up the paperwork to view. “Attention! We have a warrant from the Sûreté Nationale to close the premises and seize all computer hardware and software, everyone inside this building is presently under arrest on suspicion of domestic and international cyber terrorism. If you are innocent you have nothing to be afraid of and this will only be a minor inconvenience to you while you are processed. Your co-operation is appreciated to ensure no one will be hurt.”
BANGKOK, THAILAND
In the bustling tourist district of Bangkok’s Ram Buttri Street, a large-scale raid was also taking place at “The International Stop,” a cyber cafe. Yellow
tape and paddy-wagons, cordoned off an area of relative calm among the thousands of tourists milling around the street. The incident was barely noticed by the crowds shopping, socializing, and drinking in the multitude of sidewalk cafes and bars. Just more chaos within the pandemonium that was one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Two officers led a group of worried looking and confused detainees out through the front door. Zap-strapped together in a chain by the wrists, the nighttime staff and customers, even the young female baristas, were being taken from the premises and loaded into a black prison bus with wire covered windows. Following closely behind several officer carried boxes stacked with CPUs and hard-drives from the the computers inside. Outside in the heat, a contingent of brown-shirted Thai national police officers looked on to make sure sure the operation was carried out as instructed.