by Mark White
'Sorry, we don't get many visitors back here, and all the maintenance budget goes on the public facing areas. Us neuro-psychologists don't get much investment these days, not just in research opportunities.’
‘So I see,’ I said as he opened the door to his office.
'Sit down, sit down. Can I get you a drink?' he asked.
He’s like a different person. I’m guessing it’s a while since anyone took an interest in him and his work. 'No thanks, I’ve already had too much coffee before I left.'
He poured himself a coffee. 'No such thing as too much coffee in my books. Anyway, as I said, after you left I did a bit of digging and came up with an interesting bit of information. Your comments on HOME deaths and our discussion on immersion levels obviously made a subconscious connection in my mind. I realised later that the few HOME deaths I’d been involved in were all of Shallows. That could have been coincidental, as the numbers are pretty low, so I checked with my colleagues here and the record in this institute. It all tallied though, at a conservative estimate at least ninety five percent of the HOME deaths that have been through here had ratings of four or less on the Edelman scale. Given the sample size I’d probably only give that around 85% confidence rating at present, but I’d say it sounds highly significant.'
'Really, could you send me your data please? That is definitely very interesting,' I said.
He blinked, and I had it. 'Thanks, that is a really interesting finding. I’ll look at the details and do some follow up myself, I can check the wider data from other locations.'
'If you’d like me to look into it in more detail, I’d be happy to do so. There must be some link between the less intrusive integration of the brain for Shallows that’s triggering it. Odd, intuitively I’d have expected it to be the other way round. Of course the research would need to be funded by your office via the institute, but it’s something I’m qualified to do, and would love to do it,' said Mauro.
That explains why he was so keen to see me, he spotted another way to get his interests funded. Can’t say I blame him, having struggled to get funding myself for so many years. I must admit to be warming to the man a little.
'Let me talk to Geraldine when I see her next, it may well be something that interests her. I'd certainly like to know the results myself, but I'd need her approval as I don't have a budget of my own to spend for research,' I said.
I could see the glimmer of hope in his eyes. 'Thanks, I really appreciate it. Anyway, I assume you had something else you wanted to talk to me about?' Mauro said.
'Yes I do. I've been doing some research for Geraldine that led me to some of the projects that Raj Tamboli set up within Tethys prior to the Flood. I've got information on most of these, but there were three neuroscience related ones that all I could find were the code names. I was wondering if you might have come across the names before, or might be able to point me in the direction of where I could find out. I can't find anything at all in the Stream,' I said.
'Give it a shot. No idea whether I can help, but happy to see,' he said.
'Well the code names are Project Minsky, Project Reid and Project Heath, but that's all I have on them.'
'Sorry no idea. I don't think…' he started and then paused. I waited patiently as I could see him lost in his thoughts.
'Actually Project Minsky rings a bell. I think I came across a reference to it when I was looking something up in the offline archive a few years back. It only stuck in my mind as I was very familiar with the works of Marvin Minsky. I referenced some of his works in the historical section of my doctorate, and became quite interested in him. I'd recommend his biography "The Man, The Mind and the Corpsicle",' he said.
'Can you remember what it said, or do you know where the reference was?' I asked.
He paused again, thinking. 'No, sorry, I can't remember what it said. I have a feeling it was in a budgetary section which listed where the funding for the specialists in this institute came from. This was from the pre-Flood days, and was just on paper copies. I assume the digital copies have got lost or unindexed over time. This institute has had a long history, and has changed a great deal over the years. We used to be a specialist centre in neuroscience and artificial intelligence research in the days before the Flood'
'That all makes sense. Tethys put a lot of funding into AI research too, and pulled in a lot of consultant experts from academia to help. So you think you can find the reference again?' I asked.
'I can try. I know what room it will be in. Come with me.' He stood up and gestured for me to follow him.
We walked down the corridor with all the DJL wards, and round the corner. As I expected, the corridor continued with many more wards off each side. However Mauro paused at a door on the right just round the corner. The door had no security, and was just labelled 'Archive 003'. He opened the door and we entered. No automatic lighting here, it was pitch black with no windows. He scrabbled round inside the door, and I heard a click and the lights came on. Quite a sight, it looks like it dated from a few centuries back. Metal racks, filing cabinets and desks lines the walls and down the centre of the room. The shelves and desks were covered in boxes and crates of varying size and types; plastic, cardboard and even wooden crates. Some were barely held together by string.
Mauro looked sheepish. 'We've, ah, always meant to sort it out and get it all back online. It's just, well, no-one volunteers for it, and it's hard to retain staff as it is, so no-one gets asked. Anyway, I'm pretty sure what we're looking for is in one of these filing cabinets over here,' he said, walking towards one corner. 'Take a seat at that desk and give me a few minutes. I'm sure I can find it again.'
I sat where he indicated and waited patiently. While waiting I reviewed my draft report to Geraldine and restructured it a little to allow for what I'd found out today, especially this Shallow-HOME correlation. I kicked off some more detailed encrypted deep searches, trying to ignore the increasingly frustrated sighs coming from the corner.
'Aha,' I heard him cry. 'Here we are' he said, rushing over to me with a short report.
It was indeed a budgetary breakdown for one month a couple of years prior to the Flood. He pointed excitedly half way down a page. One entry in a table next to a figure in the old Euro currency said 'Professor Romana Herceg - Project Minsky'.
I tried to hide my disappointment. 'That's it? Is there anything about the project itself?'
He looked crestfallen. 'Um, no sorry, that's all I found.'
His eyes glazed over briefly, and he brightened. He must have been looking something up in the Stream.
'I can tell you about Romana Herceg though. She dedicated her professional career to the field of WBE, so it must have been related to that. Unfortunately she died on Flood Day, and there aren't many details available on her work.'
'WBE, what's that?' I asked.
'Whole Brain Emulation. It sprang from some of the early AI research, but had a new lease of life as the first Tap implants were developed and enhanced. There were lots of threads to the field, such full brain scanning, taking snapshots of activity in the brain at any point of time. There were attempts to try to understand thoughts from these scans, but I don't know if that was ever successful. Emulations based on scanned brain states were attempted, particularly to try to model the effect of adjustment to the Taps. Best to iron out the wrinkles in any proposed changes during emulation than on real subjects,' he replied.
'That makes sense.' Damn I'm starting to sound like Damon. 'I hadn't really thought about it. They must have had to try it on human subjects eventually though.'
'Yes, but those were dark times. Don't forget in those days, prisoners would often be executed for their crimes, as barbaric as that now seems. In some countries, prisoners under sentence of death could have their sentences commuted if they volunteered to receive experimental Tap implants, or other experimental procedures. In others, prisoners weren't given any choice, especially political ones. Scientists aren't always ethical either, it wasn't
just the politicians. That's humanity for you,' he said ruefully.
'True. But that's really helpful thanks, at least I know what field the project must have been in. Any chance there might be something in there on Project Reid or Heath?' I asked.
'Let's take a look.' He went over to the cabinet and pulled out a huge pile of similar budgetary breakdowns over the years prior to the Flood. 'There's still more in there, but let's start by splitting these between us. Here, you take these, and I'll go through this pile. It shouldn't take us long.'
Just over an hour later, my eyes were tiring after skimming over page after page data. I was about to suggest we took a coffee break when Mauro said with a relieved tone in his voice, 'Here we go, Project Heath. Interesting, there are three names against the project. Professor Siddiqah Aram Totah, Doctor Torin Martin and Doctor Ester Bergman.'
I could see his eyes glaze over again as he looked it up, and he smiled with smug satisfaction. 'They all worked on various topics in their careers, but there's only one area they really all have in common. DBS.'
I looked at him, hoping I didn't need to prompt him further. 'Sorry, you'll have to help me out with those initials.'
'Direct Brain Stimulation,' he said, giving the impression he was disappointed in me for not knowing. 'It's a field which grew out of the early crude attempts to fix movement and neuropsychiatric disorders by direct electrical stimulation of areas of the brain. Obviously this has a direct input on how the Tap can stimulate areas of the brain to provide its rich virtual environment. It's also been used to help control certain mental disorders. In some autocratic regions prior to the Flood, its use for thought and emotion control was investigated.'
'Thought control? Really?' I said, somewhat alarmed.
'Yes. I don't believe it was ever successful, and obviously no-one would contemplate that these days. As I said, dark times,' he replied.
'OK, two down, one to go,' I said hopefully, and we sank back into the pages, slightly reinvigorated by this success. We were getting low on our current piles, so Mauro topped it up with the remaining items from the cabinet before we started, putting away the once we'd finished with.
Only half an hour later, it was my turn to strike gold. 'Project Reid,' I shouted, waving it above my head. A voice in the back of my historian's mind said 'Peace for our time,' so I quickly lowered it.
'Two names against it. Professor Fethawi Sayid and Doctor Elbrus Shishani.'
'Easy,' Mauro said after a brief pause. 'One's field is cognitive neuroscience, the other is a philosopher.'
'Enlighten me,' I said, with as much patience as I could muster after listening to him sigh for the last hour and a half.
'Well it's a bit of a leap of faith, but I bet they were considering the roots and basis of consciousness and intelligence given the areas they researched. That's the only area of interest they'd both worked on,' he said.
'That sounds a bit, well, metaphysical,' I said.
'Not really, but it does overlap a bit with some of the old religious concepts of soul. What makes a human? Is it just the brain, the body and the processes they run, or is there something more? If you took two people, and transplanted the heads from one body to the other, who is who? If they managed to do a complete WBE on someone, running the same thought processes in a computer, is that the same person? Is it alive?' he said enthusiastically.
'So, metaphysical then,' I said, smiling.
'Oh I guess so, but with a bit of science behind it if Sayid was involved,' he grudgingly accepted.
I recorded all this information, with a growing sense of unease. All my investigations were leading down a path that was making me feel more and more uncomfortable and worried. Mauro's 'dark days' may well still be here. I'd just scanned over the first results back from my Shallow-HOME correlation searches, and pieces were linking together. I needed to go away and think and update my report. I thanked Mauro profusely, and promised to do what I could with Geraldine over his research. He could be a little irritating and unpredictable, but he had proved to be invaluable on both occasions now. The only question was whether kicking off any research would arouse suspicion. If only I knew who I was worried about, life would be a lot easier.
Report: Raj Tamboli - 13th Sextilis 227PD
FEOS: Discussion document for Geraldine Mander's eyes only.
Executive Summary
Nothing conclusive here on Raj that would link him to what's responsible for the HOME death rate or the targeted deaths on Flood Day, which is disappointing. However the independent research programs that he started in order to create Flood Day are interesting. It's clear how most of them link into the Flood, but some seem irrelevant to it. Most interestingly these often relate to AI and neurological topics, which are among those that are seemingly being actively suppressed since the Flood. There's something there worthy of further investigation and I have a gut feeling it's related to what was going on in the world before the Flood.
Irrelevant to the topic of this report, I also accidentally discovered another anomaly in the HOME deaths which hint at a program of population modification. I'll cover this in an addendum called Eugenics.
In summary I've not answered any questions in detail, but I will raise some new ones, and they all seem to hint strongly at a much wider and darker agenda.
Tethys
Raj Tamboli was born near Pune, India which was one of the world's software powerhouses at the time. Although much of the region's development was outsourced to the cheaper European centres, Tethys was an exception that initially kept its development local in India, although that changed as Raj grew to prominence within the company.
After attending university in England, Raj returned to India and had several jobs lasting no more than a year, changing companies to progress and gain a variety of experience. Raj then joined Tethys as a senior developer when they were only a small startup. The timing was perfect; the nascent Stream was emerging from the stagnant Internet, and the world was ready to be inspired by their mission statement - to make the Stream available to all, wherever you were, whoever you were.
Raj rose very rapidly within Tethys, becoming the natural replacement as CTO for Nikhil Neemuchwala after his premature death. His charisma and vision rapidly drove Tethys to dominance in all aspects of Stream technology. His drive and determination was an inspiration to many worldwide, and although he never formally took the role of CEO, he was the public face of the company and drove all aspects of the company's agenda.
As the world was spiralling into dark and troubled times politically, he was a beacon of hope for many who hoped that technological progress, rational fact-based ideas and a long term vision could rescue the world. In order to meet Raj's vision for humanity, Tethys branched out into many different areas of technology and scientific research. Somehow he managed to make money at most of them, and immediately ploughed profits back into new projects, all aimed at an apparently altruistic goal of improving the world.
Naturally there were many who viewed him and Tethys with deep suspicion and hatred. That was the way of the world back then, everyone had an opinion, and nothing could be said without offending someone. However despite many governments with vested interests trying to block and hinder Tethys, nothing really impacted their growth and Raj's personal agenda.
However, Tethys's wide breadth of apparently distinct areas of research was the ideal cover for Raj to kick off the research that led us to Flood Day without rousing undue suspicions.
Personal interests
Raj was born into modest circumstances, but due to the excellent free education system in India at the time, was able to grow and fulfil his potential - and then some. He obtained a bursary to attend University in England which he wanted in order to experience other cultures. This gave him first hand exposure to the rise of fascism in Europe for the first time, and made him determined to resist it where he could. Although software and technology in general was always his forté, he had wide and eclectic tastes and interests.
Raj was a staunch atheist and strongly argued against nationalist tendencies. This at times put him at odds with his Indian government, particularly early in his career, but eventually he helped inspire a more rational and secular society in the country. He was proud of this bastion of sanity that he'd played a part in creating in an increasingly dangerous and irrational world, even if it was still riddled with the injustices of the caste system. Clearly if he was able to change things for the positive in his own country, he felt it was his duty to bring the same level of stability to the rest of world.
Raj was also a global advocate for green policies, and worked tirelessly to get governments to adopt policies to counteract the accelerating climate change overtaking the world. He was largely unsuccessful in this however, which goes to further show how irrational the world was.
Raj had a few other personal interests that still influence us today. For example we all know of his interest in Roman History and terminology; many of the names we now use for our government and posts, such as Decemvir and Lictor, are inspired by this. His love of live theatre lives on through the many funds, bursaries and grants he created for acting schools and theatre companies worldwide.
Raj had a few idiosyncrasies about him in those times that would seem normal now. He never worried greatly about personal appearance, adopting functional haircuts with casual and comfortable clothing at all times. Scruffy was how it was put at the time. He often ranted about the waste of time, money and artistic talent that went into the fashion industry, which is another thing that has slowly faded into obscurity in these post-Flood times. He'd fit right in now! He also loved dropping old, archaic words into conversation, so people had to go look them up. Quite a few then got a new lease of life, and came back into popularity, as did regular use of colourful language.