by Paul Anlee
“How do we know it’s safe?” Larry voiced the question foremost in all of their thoughts.
Greg looked to Kathy for assurance, but she appeared to be lost in her own thoughts. “Why wouldn’t it be? Darian said it’s the same combination of dendies he designed for himself at Stanford. He’s not giving us anything he hasn’t already tested on himself.”
“I mean, why take it at all? We already have our own dendy lattices, the FDA-approved legal version,” Larry pushed.
“Yes, and they’re state of the art,” Greg said, “but they’re only good for entertainment and communications, Larry. They won’t make us smarter.”
“I know Darian said the virus is just an upgrade,” Larry replied. “That this version will integrate with our brains more closely but…”
“Don’t forget, it’s going to augment our biological thought processes with spintronic computational abilities,” added Greg. “It might even make us as smart as him.”
Larry thought about that. The three had seen for themselves how useful the additional capabilities could be. Darian always had every needed fact immediately accessible. He could do math in his head in milliseconds that would take the rest of them hours to do, while conducting coherent conversation and multiple other tasks. Nevertheless, they worried about potential effects on their personalities. Darian was not exactly the poster child for warm and fuzzy.
“Yeah, but in a virus?” Larry didn’t like the idea of deliberately infecting himself with anything. It was, at best, unnatural. Possibly dangerous. One reason he’d chosen to become a physicist and not a biologist was because he didn’t like dealing with the uncertainty of living organisms.
“It boils down to whether we want to follow Darian at his speed, or at ours.” Greg picked up the capsule and turned it over in his hands.
During the past three months, the group had worked obsessively to flesh out the mind-boggling implications of Reality Assertion Field theory, while simultaneously engineering a prototype RAF generator. Darian begrudgingly adapted to the demands of life as a professor, including the heavy teaching and committee requirements, the long office hours, and the incessant student inquiries that pulled him away from the work he loved.
But the team sensed his frustration with how long the new field was taking to develop, even though their pace had been more than adequate by normal scientific standards.
Greg tried to imagine how Darian felt. Why settle for such plodding progress? Why are we hampering ourselves? We could be achieving so much more as a team if we all hosted our own internal dendy lattices with Darian’s capabilities.
Whether plodding or blazing, the RAF generator moved steadily toward completion. The device itself turned out to be much smaller than any of them would have predicted, about the same size as an old-fashioned laptop computer.
In preceding decades, physicists had thought it necessary to use more powerful machines to achieve the energy levels needed to explore the physics of basic particles. However, the Reality Assertion Field theory suggested computational power, rather than sheer energy level, was more important in generating fields that established local natural laws.
The three postdocs didn’t quite understand why that would be but, according to Darian, the math was unequivocal. And so they proceeded, hoping it wouldn't turn out be a complete waste of time and effort.
“Are they even legal?” Larry picked up his own gel-cap and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger.
“Well, you won’t find them on the list of approved medical devices,” answered Greg. “Does it really matter, though? This is like the Holy Grail of smarts; these things can raise our effective IQs into the stratosphere. Who cares if they’re legal? Regulation and laws are so far behind current technology that it’s laughable. And when the bureaucracy does make a ruling, it’s even more laughable. They’re ill-equipped to make the decisions they’re tasked with. You know that every bit as well as I do.”
Larry was not convinced. “That's if they work. That's a big if. And what about the risks? What if something goes wrong? Don't forget, Darian was still in the womb when the dendies were introduced into his bloodstream. His nervous system was still developing, and his body had years to adapt. His mom was an adult when she injected herself. We all know what happened to her.”
“It’s not like he’s forcing us to take them,” Kathy noted. “It’s more like a gift, a really valuable gift. Anyway, the legal issues would be all Darian’s. He’s risking a lot to give these to us.”
“Don’t you think we should analyze them first?” Larry directed this question at Greg.
“How would you propose we do that? We could get someone to read the viral RNA sequences and calculate the encoded proteins, but then we’d need access to the Washington State supercomputers for a week to calculate even a single folded protein. Even at that, I’m not sure we could interpret what the protein function would be. No, none of us is a dendy lattice expert like Darian. I think we have to trust him.”
“I wonder how much of his brain is still biological,” Kathy mused.
“What do you mean?” Larry asked, surprised.
“If he has incorporated high-speed logic functions into the dendies, wouldn't they be thinking around the brain rather than through it?”
Greg and Larry stared back at her blankly.
“I mean, a normal dendy lattice like ours is basically a control and communication device. It reads the activity at our synapses and interprets what that means, or else it feeds external input to the appropriate synapses so that, for example, we can ‘see’ a computer projection without using our eyes.”
“So?”
“If I can extrapolate from my early biological-psych textbook, a dendy lattice with computational capability would have to re-create all of our existing synaptic connections in order for us to still be ‘us’, you know, to have our same personality. After the lattice replicated our brain structure and became functional, the lattice signal and decision speeds would supersede neuronal processing speeds. Our neurons would become redundant. I wonder, would they just die out once they’re not needed?”
Larry had been absent-mindedly kicking the foot of the table and fidgeting in his seat. He stopped abruptly, and brought both of his forearms down on the table with a thump, “You see? You see what I’m talking about? There's so much we don't know! So many risks. So many uncertainties. How could you still be you without your brain? Are we all going to end up as robot-controlled zombies?” he demanded.
“Oh, you’d still be you, I think,” laughed Kathy, “It would take more than a dendy lattice to override you, Larry. More like a steamroller. The software of your personality would just be running on the faster silicene and crystalline semiconductors instead of on your slow biological neurons. You would still need to compensate for the absence of hormonal influences on personality, though. I'm not sure how that would work.”
“Seriously, would we even be human at that point? What would happen to our consciousness? Would we even experience being alive?” Larry fretted.
“I wonder what it would be like to think at that speed,” Kathy said dreamily, “to be that smart but having the software basically…emulating you.
She sat up straight. “Well, only one way to find out.” She picked up the capsule and popped it into her mouth, washing it down with a gulp of beer.
The two men gaped at her.
“What the hell!” Larry gasped. “How could you just do that?”
Kathy put down her glass, licking foam from the side of her mouth. “I think we can trust Darian. He may be a bit strange but he still seems human to me. Plus, there’s no reason for him to try to hurt us, and there are lots of reasons for him to try and make us better at what we do. He needs us to be as smart as we can possibly be so that he'll have someone he can discuss his crazy ideas with. I’ve watched him try to explain his theories to you guys and the other profs. It’s like trying to talk calculus with a toddler. Nobody gets it. We need to get it.”
>
“Darian doesn’t need anybody,” Larry argued, as Greg’s glass thunked loudly beside him on the wooden tabletop.
“Ahhhh!” Greg exclaimed, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth with theatrical flair. His gel-cap was also gone.
“Not you, too!” exclaimed Larry.
“Kathy’s right. Darian needs us, and I trust him,” Greg answered calmly.
Larry pushed his chair back, letting it fall, and leaned over his lab mates. He stabbed a finger at the gel cap in his open palm. “This…is an engineered virus. A brain virus, guys.”
His actions were drawing the attention of a handful of early evening patrons who'd come by the local watering hole to relax. Larry lowered his voice but was no less insistent. “This is potentially dangerous. It’s a huge unknown, on many levels. What happened to you two? You’re acting like a couple of idiot kids on some big adventure, not like the mature, professional scientists you claim to be. Whatever happened to taking measured, reasonable precautions?”
“Sometimes progress requires risk,” replied Greg.
“Yeah? Well, this is too much. You've crossed the line here, big time, and there's no coming back from this one!” yelled Larry. He wheeled toward the exit and bumped into the server who'd been on his way over with the manager in tow for backup.
Larry turned back to the table. His finger jabbed at his two colleagues. “Darian can’t force us to do this. I’m reporting him.” The server and manager tapped his arms on either side, inviting him to leave quietly or be pulled away from the still-seated Greg and Kathy.
Larry brushed their hands away and huffed toward the exit.
“Do you think he’d actually do that?” Kathy’s distraught expression triggered Greg's protective side.
“Nah,” he said with a cavalier flip of his hand. “Larry’s a bit of a drama queen.”
“I don’t know; he seems really mad.”
“Yeah, but he won’t jeopardize his own job just for our health and well-being.”
“What do you mean?”
“After he cools off, he’ll eventually come to see that we did something reckless and stupid. He figures we were unduly pressured by Darian, and he hates that kind of thing. He’ll calm down once he realizes that we did what we wanted to do, and that we’re okay with it if he doesn’t want to follow suit.”
“I hope so.”
“I’ve known Larry for years. He went into science because he saw it as an oasis of sanity in a world full of craziness, uncertainty, and insecurity. He hates risk, especially personal risk. He’s a very careful and deliberate scientist. I mean, I like the guy; we’ve been through a lot together. But, honestly, he’s more of a stamp collector than an innovator. He’s smart enough to have done his grad work anywhere in the world, but he never moved away from Vancouver. Probably never will. Just didn't inherit the adventure gene, I guess.”
“What about you? Are you adventurous?” Kathy asked, a sly smile on her face. Greg’s heart beat a little faster.
“Well, I moved here from Mumbai to go to grad school so that has to be worth something.”
“Yes, I suppose it is.”
“And I applied to work with Darian as soon as I heard he was coming here.”
“How come?”
“Apart from the fact that it’ll look great on my CV? I happen to think that he’s the most exciting theoretical physicist to come along since Einstein.”
Kathy laughed a sparkling laugh that lit up the room. Greg decided he would travel across the world to hear that laugh again.
“That’s high praise for our young professor,” she said. “Do you think he’ll be able to live up to it?”
“Well, he has so far. His Big Bang theories were great but only pushed the envelope back a little. His new stuff is ridiculously genius. It's huge.”
“I’m just an engineer but, so far, the RAF device doesn't look like much more than a fancy laptop supercomputer with some non-standard built-in antennae.”
“Yeah, I know. It doesn’t look like much, does it? But his RAF theory is so out of this world. It’s beautiful and crazy at the same time. At least, the bit I can comprehend. Darian has taken our understanding of Standard Theory to a whole new level.
“I’ve heard you guys talk about that, but I don’t really get it.”
“Basically, he’s proposing that all manner of virtual particles can, and do, exist beyond just the virtual equivalents of the real particles in this universe. There could be particles with bizarre charges, or masses, or color. All kinds of other oddities or strangeness, maybe even outside of our perception.”
“More than just the Standard Model particles?”
“Yeah. Besides the usual virtual fermions and bosons, he proposes other things with very weird properties.”
“So then why isn’t our universe full of real-particle analogs of all these crazy virtual particles? You’d think we’d see something at least remotely similar in our universe.”
“I was thinking the same thing at first. Darian says that virtual particles are like little blips in the quantum field. When a bunch of these little blips overlap each other in just the right way, they can set off resonance effects that suddenly allow the virtual particles to set up a standing wave that stabilizes them. The wave allows them to…well, they just precipitate into reality.”
“Okay…. So where does the RAF come in?”
“Well, at the beginning of the universe, all these different resonances were competing with each other to become real. Certain kinds won out over others, and now what we experience as the real universe…exists.”
“So if we want to test the theory, we need a way to encourage other resonances among virtual particles,” Kathy posited.
“Exactly, and that’s what the RAF does. It selects certain resonances over others by helping to fill in the gaps among the virtual particles in the quantum field.”
“And that can all be done with just electromagnetic waves?”
“Sure, that and a ton of math to figure out the exact shape and timing of those waves in order to select the right resonances. So much that the RAF generator has to have petaflop capabilities.”
“And some highly optimized algorithms. I see the math and I can convert it into code, but I’m glad I don’t have to understand it.” Kathy’s software skills were at least as valuable as her hardware skills.
“Yeah, the math is still beyond me, too. Hopefully, the new dendy lattice will help us with that.”
“So how does resonance fit into the creation of the universe,” Kathy asked.
“Darian says that in the time before the Big Bang, a particular set of resonances evolved into what we consider the real particles of our universe with a stable and consistent set of interactions. The resonances are self-propagating. That process keeps our universe stable and ensures that only certain kinds of particles come into existence.”
“And Darian wants to mess with that? Maybe Larry was right.”
“No, not at all. The complexity of computing how to alter the natural laws over a region of space goes up exponentially. Calculations for anything over a cubic meter or so would be practically impossible.”
“I’m relieved to hear that. I have to say, I didn’t think anyone could get so passionate about things that don’t exist."
“Except that virtual particles do exist and so does the RAF,” Greg began. He stopped when he noticed Kathy’s smirk. “Okay, okay. So I get a little carried away. I’m a nerd at heart. Sorry.”
Kathy grinned. “That’s alright. I kind of like it.”
Greg could feel his face growing warm, and the more he tried to ignore it, the worse it got. “So…yeah…uhhm,” he faltered, scrambling to switch topics. “What did you think about the whole ‘soul’ discussion at lunch that day?”
Kathy knew right away which day he meant. “Well, I was raised more or less Buddhist. Buddhism kind of assumes that the soul represents the essential part of a person that gets reincarnated again and again in
to different bodies over time. The goal is to eventually achieve enlightenment and nirvana, but I’m not sure I ever understood the concepts completely.”
“Yeah, I was raised Muslim but my family considers me a heathen now, for being agnostic. In the past, I would have agreed with Dr. Pratt that science doesn’t have a lot to say about Allah or God or souls.”
“Darian does have a way of pushing logic to uncomfortable conclusions, doesn’t he?” finished Kathy.
“Yes, he sure does.”
“Well, Buddhism doesn’t say much about the whole idea of a Creator God, either. It seems to have inherited the idea of an eternal soul from earlier religions. Spirituality never was all that important to me, but it’s what attracted my mom to move to California.”
“So what do you believe now?”
“I’d like to believe that something of us persists after death, and that there is some purpose to it all. Do you know what I mean?”
“Wouldn’t we all? But, I have to admit, Darian’s arguments about the lack of a plausible mechanism for the soul to interact with the body make a lot of sense.”
“Just because we don't understand everything about the soul, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Why couldn't it all work through something like…like interacting RAFs, for example?”
“Maybe; although that just suggests souls operate under a different kind of physics.”
“So what’s the matter with that?”
“Well, if Darian’s RAF theory works out, this device might enable us to develop a legitimate science and technology of the soul. Souls would not be beyond the reach of science anymore; they would no longer be classified as supernatural. Which would also, eventually, make God within reach of science.”
“Wow. That’s both depressing and scary,” Kathy concluded. They sat still for a moment, letting it all sink in while they pondered the depths of their empty glasses.
“Well, we’re clearly not going to figure this out all on our own,” Greg said after a while. “Darian’s giving a Philosophers’ Café on ‘The Universe Before the Universe.’ You want to go?”