I was in shock. My whole world had just collapsed into nothing. It had been nothing but an illusion. In the end, the machines had triumphed. I couldn’t get it into my head that even I myself was a machine now. The body seemed so real, just like before. But how I could deny the fact, since I was obviously much younger now than in my last memories that I had of my biological body? »So you took my body and transferred the brain into an android?« I asked.
»No,« said Evelyne. »You’re not Cliff Dexter at all. You’re Sergei Pavlovich, a historian. The whole thing was one of your experiments. You wanted to know how people were thinking at the time of the singularity. You wanted to experience it for yourself, immerse in it, live it. That’s why your original memories of your life as Sergei Pavlovich were erased and you were connected to the simulation and there you led the life of a certain Cliff Dexter.«
»And what happened to the real Cliff Dexter? Did he ever exist?« I asked stunned.
»Yes, he did exist,« said Evelyne. »I knew him personally. I was there when he died. The simulation was a faithful reconstruction based on historical data, Anabelle Palmer’s memory logs and my own personal memories.«
»Then you were the only real person in this simulation? Who exactly were you? The Evelyne in Washington or the little girl in New Detroit?«
»I was both. I was a normal human woman of flesh and blood, when I met Dexter in Washington, D. C. We were separated, when a Spetsnaz squad evacuated all GRU personnel from Washington, when everything collapsed there. Later then, in 2078, when the technique of Mind Upload was developed, so that the human mind could completely be transferred into a computer system, I was one of the first participants in this procedure. I survived the death of my biological body. I was later transferred as a Sentinel into the android body of a younger version of myself and sent back to the former United States for reconnaissance. There, near Detroit, I met Dexter again, until he finally died. But you know that yourself. You have lived through the simulation as him.«
It was too much at once. I only understood part of what she told me. »And so I’m that Sergei, not Dexter? An historian?« I said confused. »What about all the others? Neil O’Neil? Okay, he’s dead. But what about Director Wilson, Miss Doyle, the students and everyone in New Detroit? Are they real people?«
»They really lived. But of course they’re dead by now. You want to know what happened after Dexter... after you died?« I nodded. »About nineteen years later, the Technocratic Union began taking over the Neo-Luddite territories to put an end to the raiding parties across the border. The Neo-Luddites, of course, were not capable of any significant resistance. You saw them yourself. Now there is only the Union left.« After a pause, she said, »I’d like to know one thing. Did you seriously believe that technology could be stopped somehow?«
»In North America it worked,« I replied.
»But you should have been aware that if even a single country in the world or a single corporation would not give up technology, but would use it to its advantage, its victory over the rest of the world could not be prevented. How did you plan to stop technology? With handguns? Didn’t you have any idea of the superior technological potential you were facing? It was already decades too late to stop or change anything.«
»I don’t know. I really thought the same had happened everywhere in the world just like in the United States.«
»Even in the United States, you could have guessed the truth, if you had just used a little logic. Already at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it was clear that humans would no longer be able to prevent computer technology from overtaking and replacing them.«
»What year are we now, anyway?«
»In the year 3111.« But why am I telling you all of this? We should go now and restore your original memories. Then you can give yourself all the answers.«
»No, no!« I protested. »Don’t you understand? If what you say is true, and this was all just an experiment of my real self as historian, then that’s exactly what it was all about.« I looked for words to explain it to her, because Evelyne was getting impatient. That Sergei... I mean, I wanted to know what it was like to be a man of the past. That is only possible if I have experienced everything that people experienced then and if I have no memories of what followed later. It’s about experiencing that shock, the gradual understanding of the way in which humanity has developed since then and to judge it from the point of view of the people of the past. Do you understand?«
She looked at me doubtfully. »Maybe. You sound like Sergei again. We’re friends, but I never understood your strange eccentricity.«
»Please!« I begged her. »Give me some more time! I want to remain in this state for a while without my original memories – as Cliff Dexter. I want to know how Cliff Dexter sees this new world.«
»I don’t understand what’s the point,« said Evelyne.
»Please, do me the favor! Give me all the information little by little, as I ask for it. And then when I have understood everything, and when I see how Cliff Dexter judges everything, then we copy back the original memories and end the experiment. Okay?«
The truth was that I was thinking not so much of the experiment as of my identity as Cliff Dexter, which I had become accustomed to. If I suddenly had all the memories of this other person, this Sergei who I didn’t know at all, copied into my memory, wouldn’t I become someone else? Wouldn’t this erase my current identity? In any case, I wanted to have more time to think about this problem.
»If you think it’s good for something,« said Evelyne, shrugging her shoulders.
»Yes, yes... It is important,« I said emphatically. I thought about what to ask next. I looked around the room, now that I could move freely. The frame, in which I was standing or rather sitting, actually looked like an inclined bed built into the wall with white cushions. The contacts of the electrodes, which had been connected to my head, dangled down from above. The whole room with its spotless, sterile white color still looked unreal. »All this, how can I know it’s real? Maybe it’s just another simulation.«
»It is real,« confirmed Evelyne in a firm voice, leaving no doubt that she was telling the truth. »Personally, I would have preferred to take you back to a virtual world. I see no point in using these android bodies for that purpose. But you said that it would be important, when you returned from the simulation because of the physical feeling of reality. In my opinion, this is nonsense. A virtual world is indistinguishable from a physical one. But you insisted. It’s another one of your quirks.«
»Okay, good. Where are the others?«
»What others?« she asked in surprise.
»Well, the others. You’re not saying that we’re the last humans... uh... androids here on Earth.«
»No, of course not,« she confirmed. »The others are almost all in the virtual worlds. It doesn’t make much sense for everyone here to be in the physical world. Besides, an android body like that consumes significantly more energy than a virtual body in a simulation. And the virtual worlds are more interesting than the physical world here on Earth anyway.«
»There are no windows in this room. Is there no way for me to take a look outside?«
»Sure. Come with me!« she asked me.
We went to a white door on the side of the room. At the touch of a small strip on the door frame, the door slid to the side. Behind it was a long corridor that was just as white as this room. I saw a white six-legged robot the size of a cat crawl across the floor, cleaning the surface. It sprayed a liquid on the floor and then wiped it off behind it. On one side of the corridor was a long row of windows, but they were closed with white shades made of a material that looked exactly like the walls. Evelyne touched a small panel on the window frame and the shades of the apertures opened. Bright light fell into the corridor. At the window in front of which we were standing, the shades were raised all the way up. I could see the landscape outside. Everything was green. Dense vegetation covered the whole landscape. Parts of it looked like a garden, ot
her parts grew like a wild jungle. Under the vegetation I could see geometric shapes in some places. On a closer look I recognized the ruins of ancient buildings.
»Where are we?« I asked. »This place looks like we’re in the middle of a jungle. I thought the Technocratic Bloc is just gigantic cities of concrete and steel.«
Evelyne laughed amused. »The place where we are is called Bangkok. You should know that even with your present memory.«
»Bangkok? But Bangkok was a megacity with millions of inhabitants.«
»I told you, most people live in virtual worlds. To emulate a human brain, you need a processing unit no bigger than half the size of a matchbox. And the servers that run the virtual worlds are no bigger than a refrigerator and generate a world for a million people. There are, of course, many servers, but still, humanity now uses only a tiny fraction of the resources it needed when everyone still had a physical body. All the apartments, offices, shopping malls and streets are no longer needed. Life takes place in a virtual space.«
»Aren’t there any real people left?« I asked in horror.
»The last Cyber was assimilated some forty years ago.«
»Cyber?«
»The people who did not follow the absurd philosophy of Neo-Luddism. We have integrated ourselves into the technological system. Through electronic implants we have improved our skills and have been able to connect directly to the virtual network. In this way it was possible to live in both worlds, the physical world and the virtual realities. The birth rates naturally declined over time. But this was not important, because eventually nobody died anymore, but lived on forever after uploading his mind, just like you and me. And when the last Cybers didn’t want to have any more children, the last biological Cyber was finally assimilated into the virtual world. A large part of the digitalized consciousness is connected to a network called the Overmind, which together with networked artificial computer systems forms a collective intelligence that controls the Union.«
»But this is exactly what Sarenna warned us about!« I cried out in horror. »The domination of the collective that annihilates all individuality! You remember her words, don’t you?«
»Of course«, Evelyne replied. »Sarenna was a prophet. Unfortunately, she was too old to have her mind uploaded. But she warned us of this danger. Well, the digitalized humans have not completely lost their individuality. They can temporarily integrate themselves into the Overmind and then separate from the collective again and exist as individual minds in the virtual worlds. After all, you do too. And so do I. That’s our job as Sentinels. We are the keepers of humanity’s heritage. We must protect individuality now and in the future. Mankind should not be completely replaced by the all-encompassing collective of the Overmind.«
»Can I go outside myself?« I asked.
Evelyne nodded. There was also a door in the wall with the windows that could be opened. As the door slid aside, I could step outside onto a terrace that ran below the windows. I breathed the fresh air, although I was not sure that my artificial lungs were really doing anything with that air. But somehow I had an organic hull of flesh that needed to be supplied with oxygen. Perhaps this happened in a different way. I had no idea. In any case I could smell the scent of fresh air and the forest below us. The terrace was part of a gigantic complex of buildings that overlooked the green wilderness. About seventy feet below the terrace I could see the treetops of the jungle. I could hear birds chirping and the calls of some animals. Nature had re-conquered Earth. And humanity had made room and settled into a virtual world. A bit away in the jungle I could now also see some technical installations. There were not many of them. Metallic creatures were moving between them. They were robots. Some were humanoid, others not. So there were also machines with artificial intelligence that were not controlled by any digitalized human mind.
»It’s amazing,« I said. »As Cliff Dexter, I always feared that artificial intelligence would eventually become so superior to us that it would take over Earth.«
»This has been solved by the fact that there is no real difference between artificial intelligence and the digitalized human mind. The artificial computers were made in the image of the human mind. And the brains of the Cybers and the digitized human mind have been constantly improved by technical means. It is difficult to draw a line today between what was based on the former biological matrix and what has been improved by computer circuits. Due to the possibility of networking in the Overmind, the intellectual capacity of united humanity is no longer inferior to artificial computer systems. In 2090, political participation was limited to only human minds, whether digitalized or in a human body, so that pure artificial intelligence could never take control of the Union. But today, of course, the Overmind is based on the minds of former human brains as well as artificial computers. Intelligence is intelligence, whether it first existed in an organic matrix or a silicon circuit.«
»So the species Homo sapiens is now extinct. You have let them perish. Only the machines have remained as a result of human evolution,« I said depressed while staring at the forest.
»No«, Evelyne contradicted me. »Homo sapiens still exist. Would you like to see some of them?«
I turned to her. »But you said the last ones were assimilated into the virtual worlds forty years ago.«
»The last Cybers were assimilated, the descendants of the technocrats,« she corrected me. »But the descendants of the Neo-Luddites, the Brutes, could not be assimilated.«
»Yes, I want to see them,« I said eagerly.
»Well, then come with me.« Evelyne asked me.
We went back into the building and locked the door. Then I followed Evelyne through the corridor. She put on a black cape. We took an elevator to the lower floors. On the way we met several robots that were busy with maintenance work, but no android with human appearance. We really seemed to be the only former humans who were in the physical world.
On the lowest floor we entered a large hall from which a wide open gate led outside. A broad staircase ended in a well-kept garden. I saw many robots that kept the garden in order. A few robots looked like remotely humanoid guards. They carried weapons. I guessed they were there for protection against wild animals. We followed a path through the garden, paved with stones. It was warm and sunny, actually a beautiful day, although I was still too confused to consciously absorb the beauty of my surroundings.
Finally we reached a large facility formed by countless cages. It looked like a zoo. There were cages with animals, two tigers and some monkeys in a separate area. And in another part of the cage labyrinth, I finally saw them.
They were humans, no doubt. Their hair was unkempt. The men had overgrown beards. Around their hips they wore primitive clothing, some made of pieces of fur, some of dried leaves or wood. Some looked at us impassively. The others ignored us.
I was shocked. »You keep them in cages?« I shouted at Evelyne reproachfully. I rushed to the bars and tried to call one of them. »Hey! You! Come here! Hey!«
They just stared at me uncomprehendingly.
»They don’t understand you«, Evelyne said calmly. »They don’t speak English or Russian or Thai or any other language that we know.«
»And what are they speaking?« I asked.
»Just look at them!«
A few of the humans were actually communicating with each other. These were simple, primitive sounds, a growl, a buzz or some inarticulate grunts. It did not sound like any intelligent language, more like the sounds of monkeys.
»That’s not a language,« I said without understanding.
»It is a very simple form of language, without abstract terms. There are only words for the essential things that are important to them: Food. Drink. Go away! Come here! Things like that«, Evelyne explained. »A person who lives in nature, without any technology, does not need many words or complicated concepts. When the Union conquered the territories of the Brutes, we naturally had to disarm them. They kept on sabotaging everything we were building. Instead, we
provided them with food so that they no longer had to take care of themselves. Eat, sleep and reproduce was all they did in the end. Their mental abilities atrophied. If a person is not intellectually challenged, his brain cannot fully develop. A human being is not born with his intellectual abilities. He learns them. These Brutes here have not learned much because they live in a very simple world. We have measured their intelligence. It’s only slightly above a chimpanzee.«
»They are animals. You keep them in a zoo!« I reproached Evelyne.
»If we let them out of their cages, they would devastate the gardens and destroy the technical installations. But further out in the woods, there are still many groups living in freedom. We drop food for them with helicopters. Given the amount of food, we estimate that there are still about ten million Brutes worldwide.«
I laughed hysterically. »So this is what mankind has become: Some wild primates and some computer programs in some virtual world. For that we have two hundred thousand years of evolution behind us? To live in a world like that? What has that still in common with humans? It would have been better if we had gone extinct or blown ourselves up in a nuclear war!«
»I think this is enough now,« said Evelyne worried. »You should really restore your original memories now. You’re losing your emotional balance.«
»So that I can adapt to your insane new world? So that I can be a part of this madness? No way!«
»Calm down, Sergei,« Evelyne told me.
But I didn’t want to calm down. She could not seriously ask me to continue living in such a senseless world, for all eternities as an immortal computer program that changed bodies at will or even lived entirely in some dream world. But perhaps the latter was still the best. The best thing would be to erase completely the knowledge of this bleak reality from my mind and return to the dream world I knew. I wanted to be Cliff Dexter again.
Crusade Against the Machines Page 33