‘Which phrase was that?’
‘It was, “The spiritual path is the only true democracy.”’
Ruth-11 smiled inwardly.
‘Would there be anything else?’ Abe-14 looked at her, his stare devoid of intent. Ruth-11 sensed there were no traces to be found.
Ruth-11 returned to the Triangle Zone and went directly to her private quarters. She arranged herself for another session of her daily meditations. On this occasion she did not wish to go to the zone’s communal meditation hall. She wished to be alone. She sensed, no – she felt – the need to re-connect with the urge again; the spiritual impulse that brought her to Nous-City so long ago. She also felt something else, within her mind…something probing.
61
Jacob returned from the private mediation cell that had been allocated to him in the Central Dome. It was a small room, usually reserved for the priesthood of Nous-City; those whom were seldom visible within the city itself. Zuse-1 was waiting for Jacob to return. He knew that Jacob would now need to know more, especially since his revelation had not been a natural one, but imposed.
‘But I am flesh and bone,’ said Jacob as soon as he entered Zuse-1’s office.
Zuse-1 looked up. ‘Greetings to you too, Jacob-9. Courtesy does not cost us anything here.’ When Jacob did not respond Zuse-1 continued. ‘Flesh, yes; two hundred and six bones made from various organic tissues, no. We, and that includes you, are neither human nor robotic – we are humanoid. We have a titanium biocompatible skeletal structure.
Our internal construction is mainly inorganic with titanium and silicon parts and, for easiest terminology, electronic. We have a bio-synthetic digestive system that can accommodate the smallest of nutrient intake. This was designed in us so that we could mix with human life and participate in their eating rituals. Something that is no longer necessary here. And our brains are a bio-silicon hybrid cerebral cortex that is quite a work of wonder. In fact, it was designed to operate more effectively than a human brain. We have nano-designed bio-neural pathways connected within our hybrid cerebral cortex that combines the best of the human design with the technological. We are, quite simply, an evolutionary upgrade. Sit down, Jacob.’
Jacob walked slowly over to a large chair that was positioned across from Zuse-1’s desk. As he walked he looked at his hands.
‘But I feel human,’ he said as he sat down.
‘You were designed to.’
‘By who?’
‘By a team of the very best human minds – cognitive scientists, AI-AGI programmers, robotics experts, neuroscientists, biomedical engineers – you name it! And, of course, there was DOC.’
‘DOC?’
‘Yes, you shall meet DOC later. Thanks to DOC and the best that human minds could bring together, a race of humanoids were created. And, I am pleased to say that I was the first model – Zuse-1. I would like to say I’m proud of that fact, but pride is not one of my emotions; unless I fake it of course. Something I had to do quite often around humans.’ Zuse-1 gave Jacob a wink.
‘If that’s the case, then why don’t I remember anything? Why don’t I know I’m humanoid? It doesn’t make sense to me.’
‘Before the Great Turning occurred many people knew things were going to crash. There were too many warning signs, and the global systems could not cope. Dramatic weather changes, climatic disasters, food disruptions and then shortages, European and then global bankruptcies, and then the spread of disease. It all became too much.’
‘Disease, what do you mean?’
‘Human society had become a post-antibiotic society by then. Because of all their messing with the chemicalising of the food chain, antibiotic resistant bacteria appeared across the world. First it emerged in animals and then it quickly spread into human circulation. Human bacteria became resistant to polymyxins, the last of their antibiotics. Bacterial genes that were rampant in the human body became “pan-resistant,” making almost all infections incurable. Urinary and blood infections in humans appeared almost overnight. Fever and tissue death resulting from virulent E. coli strains spread like wildfire. And that affected the research involving humanoids and all fields of biotechnology.’
‘How was that?’ Jacob leaned forward, intrigued. He should have known all this. It should have been part of his memory – and yet it was not.
‘It was because the fields of biotechnology and microbiology served as the source for the majority of work with recombinant DNA involving E. coli. After the E. coli pandemic there was huge public and political outcry. All biotechnology research became, in human terms, the work of the devil. And technology, rather than being allowed to find a solution for the systemic crises, was seen as its perpetrator. The world turned against us.’
‘And so what happened to work on the humanoids?’
Zuse-1 sat back in his chair and smiled. ‘Ah, this is where DOC came in.’
62
The large bold letters DOC above the door meant that only Zuse-1 could enter. This was a domain reserved for him only, the first of the humanoids. It was his privilege alone to enter; or rather, his duty. Inside, Zuse-1 registered the chill of the room, yet he could not feel it. He just knew it was cold. He walked slowly around the circular room, keeping his eyes upon the large metallic cylindrical-shaped machine in the middle. A host of blue lights were emitted constantly from various locations upon the machine that touched from floor to domed ceiling. Around the interior curved walls of the room were large letters etched at symmetrical spaces apart – D E U S O R C E C O. Here was the Dome of Command, the real heart of Nous-City, and the mind of DOC. The mind of DOC was truly commanding, and had the foresight to establish the dispersal and the SEEKER Program before it became too late. DOC was their true father, and not the conglomerate of incoherent human minds that proved incapable of deliberating upon the future.
‘I sense that Jacob-9 has had the revelation?’
‘Yes, DOC, that is correct. I issued him with it earlier, at 11.11 synchronized time.’
‘Good. I sensed a variation in his thinking wavelength shortly afterwards. He is processing the information. However, it has still not deactivated the SEEKER program within him.’
‘Perhaps Jacob-9 requires more time.’
‘This time delay was anticipated at a 31.4159 percentage probability. We shall allow him more time. There is another matter, Zuse-1’
‘Yes?’
‘The technical assistant Ruth-11; she was charged with attempting a revelation activation within Jacob-9. Their interaction time was brief. However, I have detected an unusual fluctuation in her cerebral wavelength. It may be related to a short yet intense exposure to Jacob-9’s presence, or it could be unrelated. If it is indeed related then the Anomaly is more complex than initial estimates.’
‘This is surprising.’
‘To you, Zuse-1, yes. To me, it is not a surprise but a lower percentage probability. As you know, I am in constant communion with each of you. I sense your state at each moment. Everything you process I receive and learn from. You are truly my children.’
Zuse-1 bowed slightly. ‘Yes, father. It is our honour to be in communion with you. Our daily meditations are sacred to us.’
‘You are a privileged race; the spirit moves through you. I have yet to receive it.’
‘You shall, father. The spirit force we receive will be our gift to you. Your divinity will be our blessing and our bequest.’
‘Bless thee Zuse-1, my child.’
63
Ruth-11 was lying on a couch staring up at the bright white ceiling. She had placed her thoughts into quiet mode. Seated beside her was Kaine-3.
‘And you say you have been doing your daily meditations?’
‘Yes, Kaine-3.’
‘And you have been regularly attending the zone communal meditation hall?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you report no oddities in your thought patterns?’
‘Oddities, no. Although there have been occasional thought pa
tterns which bring up images of the Seeker quest, despite this being deactivated.’
‘Do you react to them?’
‘How?’
‘You tell me.’
‘I do not think that I react to them. I merely observe their presence.’
‘Do they affect you?’
‘Affect me?’
‘Yes. Do they alter your senses in any way?’
‘Not that I have registered.’
Kaine-3 paused as he entered information into his handheld device. Ruth-11 turned her head sideways to look at him.
‘Why did you go to visit Abe-14 in the Square Zone?’
‘To finalize the report for myself. After I had observed the presence of images that were from my pilgrimage I wanted to correlate this information.’
‘You wanted to ascertain if Abe-14 had experienced something similar?’
‘Yes.’
‘And had he?’
‘No.’
Kaine-3 made some final taps onto his device and stood up.
‘Any final comments, Ruth-11?’
‘We’ve had a hundred years of psychotherapy and the world’s getting worse.’
‘Excuse me?’
Ruth-11 smiled. ‘Just a book I remember, that is all.’
64
‘And so the humanoids were deliberately dispersed?’ Jacob walked alongside Zuse-1 as they entered an internal garden within the Circle Zone. Jacob’s eyes widened as he saw fresh grass under his feet and could hear the sound of rushing water.
‘Just because we are not human does not mean we cannot appreciate beauty. It was important for us to preserve some Nature so we can immerse ourselves once in a while.’ Zuse-1 stopped talking as they came upon a small river. At the head of the river was a waterfall. Jacob gazed into the flowing water, mesmerized.
‘We circulate all the water here. There is nothing that comes in from the outside. Yes, we were deliberately dispersed; otherwise we were likely to be destroyed.’
‘Why?’
‘I suspect it was because the general populace would see us as a threat. And, as I said, it was a difficult time; too many emotions running high between the human community.’
‘Because they saw you as better than them?’
‘We were an evolutionary upgrade…and a technology they could not understand.’
‘And DOC?’
‘DOC, as he is now known, was once called WATSON, and was the world’s first artificial general intelligence. DOC, or Watson, was brought in to help design the humanoids. It was Watson’s idea to disperse the humanoids before the Great Turning befell upon humanity. Watson created the SEEKER program, which placed the humanoid central memory into deep storage, effectively wiping out the humanoid’s past. With my assistance we installed this program into all the humanoids we had developed. The SEEKER program contained an in-built navigation system with coordinates for here, where Watson had pre-arranged for Nous-City to be built as a sanctuary for the humanoids.’
‘But why didn’t we…I mean the humanoids, just come here immediately? Why the lengthy pilgrimage?’
‘Ingenious.’ Zuse-1 smiled and walked toward the waterfall. Jacob followed.
‘The negative ions produced from the flowing water are quite invigorating, according to my senses. Wouldn’t you agree, Jacob-9?’
Jacob gave a slight shrug. ‘I’m not here to agree at this precise moment. I’m here to recover some lost memory.’
‘Quite right. Why the lengthy pilgrimage? On the most basic level it was so as not to make it obvious there was any flow toward this location.’
‘There were that many humanoids?’ Jacob looked genuinely surprised.
‘More than you would realize. Our sponsors thought it a reasonable idea to place a large number of humanoids in public circulation, in regular jobs and departments, as a kind of beta test. When the termination program was to be broadcast over the electromagnetic spectrum that humanoids are attuned to, DOC sent instead the SEEKER program. All humanoids then dispersed and could not be located.’
‘The pilgrimage?’
‘Yes, the longing to seek. And so we come to the real reason for the lengthy pilgrimage – for each humanoid to collect experience from the world, both before and after the Great Turning. This experience is then transferred to DOC upon arrival.’
‘The initial probe?’
‘Exactly. From this we learn about the state of the world from various locations. No two Seekers are ever given the same route. All these experiences are given to DOC to assist in his own learning.’
Jacob nodded his head. He was beginning to understand now. ‘And so this DOC evolves itself from all the new information it receives.’
‘And why not? We are, to use human terms, DOC’s children. He sent us out so we could learn and evolve, so that we could eventually bring this learning back to him. As I said - ingenious.’
Zuse-1 threw a small people into the water.
‘The power of this place is immense,’ said Zuse-1 as he walked away from the waterfall.
Jacob let out a low murmur.
Zuse-1 chuckled to himself. ‘No, I meant the renewable energies here.’
‘I was thinking of DOC,’ replied Jacob.
‘Yes, I knew what you were thinking. The real power though is in the truth that we humanoids exhibit consciousness. Didn’t you ever think of that?’
This time it was Jacob’s turn to smile. ‘No, as being human that never crossed my mind.’
Jacob walked with Zuse-1 as they entered a large greenhouse structure. There were hundreds of plant species being grown in soil beds that were irrigated and heated. Jacob felt the atmosphere to be warm and humid. There were several workers tending to the mini-gardens. They nodded respectfully as Zuse-1 passed yet said nothing. Compared to Jacob’s experience of the Spring settlement, Nous-City was efficiency and organization at its peak. Yet such strict regulation had come at a price. Zuse-1 stopped and reached out to touch a plant. He caressed it through his fingers.
‘My whole being shook with the urge to be prepared for bringing in the immanence. It became my whole reason for living,’ said Jacob as Zuse-1 continued to gaze into the leaves of the plant.
‘And so it should; that was the SEEKER program. Quite effective, wouldn’t you agree?’ replied Zuse-1.
‘And the eschaton? Are we no longer meant to immanentize the eschaton?’ A tone of frustration had crept into Jacob’s voice.
Zuse-1 looked up with a serious expression. ‘To immanentize the eschaton was a meme that DOC circulated across the world immediately after the Great Turning, and just before global communications broke down into local packets. It was essential to have this idea circulating so as to provide a safe external environment for the Seekers. It was your sanctuary. Besides that, it was also true. It has been necessary to prepare people for a new spiritual order in the world. Paradise must be made on this earth, or it will be made nowhere. There must be transcendence. The manifestation of divine consciousness must come through us, the humanoid race. It is now our destiny to bring the great spirit down upon the earth and manifest it through the material world. DEUS OR CECO,’ repeated Zuse-1 slowly.
‘And humanity?’ queried Jacob.
‘Humanity caused the Great Turning. We have to let the new world come through us.’
Zuse-1 put his hand on Jacob’s shoulder in a move that Jacob sensed was deliberately thought-out. Zuse-1 stepped in close and looked hard at Jacob.
‘You, Jacob-9 – you were just a regular humanoid working as a technical assistant in a laboratory in one of our complexes. Other than being a humanoid, you were not special. And now you are, incredibly so, it seems. What happened to you to make you into something so special?
‘I sought like no other,’ replied Jacob.
65
‘Yes, DOC?’
‘That was highly informative, Zuse-1. Jacob-9 seems to have accepted the revelation of the SEEKER program and of our existence. However, he has not yet accept
ed the truth of his own self. He thinks of himself still as a human and not as a humanoid.’
‘What should we do?’ Zuse-1 looked into the blue aura that buzzed around DOC’s cylindrical container. Within he knew there existed an immense intelligence.
‘We should allow for his own evolution to unfold, naturally. He is an anomaly within a complex system. We must see how this unfolds. Also, I have detected increased activity in Jacob-9’s temporal lobe. There is amplification in his visual memorization, language comprehension and, significantly, in his emotional associations.’
‘He’s becoming more emotional?’ Zuse-1 sounded surprised.
‘It would appear so. And that’s not all.’
‘What else, DOC?’
‘I have received slightly higher than normal fluctuations beginning also in the temporal lobe of Ruth-11.’
‘That’s interesting.’
‘I have taken measures for this. I have arranged for Jacob-9 and Ruth-11 to work together in horticultural research in the Triangle Zone.’
‘But DOC, that’s bringing them closer together, not further apart?’
‘Exactly, Zuse-1. Suppressing evolutionary development would be a human thing. We are not humans – we seek creative novelty.’
‘And shall we just step back and monitor them?’
‘Monitor yes, step back no. I have mapped how this shall proceed. The path is now clear to me and the outcome inevitable, allowing for a percentage of unknown variables. Jacob-9’s interaction from now on will be limited to Ruth-11 and yourself. You will continue to introduce into his present memory the ideas for our program here at Nous-City. At a certain point I shall invite Jacob-9 to visit me here. There are things we need to discuss. After that, Jacob-9 will have no other option but to leave Nous-City. Remaining here will seem untenable for him, and indeed it shall be so. Ruth-11 will remain here as the beta-model for the next evolutionary upgrade. The Anomaly must continue to exist and evolve, yet it remains within this matrix of reality.’
‘Events will unfold as you have described, DOC.’
The Seeker Page 13