The Truth Machine

by James L. Halperin

  * * *

  Immediately after meeting with Tilly and Pete, Roswell called President Hall.

  “I just met with two, well, kids practically—at least one of them is—and they say they can build a perfect liedetector machine within 10 to 20 years. The amazing thing is, Travis, I actually believe them.”

  Hall was intrigued. “I’d sure like to know more about this, Garry.”

  “I’m editing my notes right now. I’ll send them to you later today.”

  A detailed memorandum was downloaded into Hall’s private computer a few hours later. Roswell handled the transmission himself.

  Six days later during a nationally televised town meeting, President Hall fielded a question about the number of innocent people executed under Swift and Sure. He answered, “I agree the numbers are far greater than predicted, but the percentage of those wrongly convicted is only slightly higher than we thought. Remember, we’ll execute almost three times as many criminals this year as originally anticipated. These will tend to be the hard-core offenders, the kind of criminals whom the death penalty doesn’t intimidate as much. Therefore I’m confident both numbers will fall sharply in the future. Granted, a single person executed for a crime he or she didn’t commit is one too many. But we’re still saving the lives of about two and a half potential victims for every person we execute and nobody disputes the fact that virtually all of those executed are in fact violent criminals. I never said Swift and Sure would be perfect, but as promised, it’s a big improvement over what we had before.

  “Now let me tell you what we’re doing to protect innocent defendants. Next week I’m sending Congress a bill that will effect the most severe penalties against anyone who deliberately manufactures, alters, or withholds evidence in a violent-crime case. Officers of the law or the court who engage in such behavior will be prosecuted as violent criminals themselves. I expect the bill to sail through the House and the Senate intact. But that’s a short-term fix just to reduce the problem. It won’t solve it entirely. The only way to do away with tragedies like these is to create a perfect lie-detector, a Truth Machine.

  “I’m told our scientific community could develop such a machine, possibly as soon as 10 years from now. My good friend Senator Garrison Roswell is now drafting a bill to encourage private industry to develop a 100-percent accurate Truth Machine. I hope Garry’s bill passes. If it does, I’ll sign it.”

  In his office in downtown Washington DC, Charles Scoggins stared at his computer screen. Now 20 years old, he had earned his Harvard MBA in a one-year accelerated program and was purportedly a venture capitalist specializing in high-tech companies. As President Hall’s words appeared on the screen, it was apparent to his assistant, Joan Goldman, that Scoggins could barely believe what he saw.

  “Amazing,” he whispered. “Armstrong was right; there really is going to be a Truth Machine. But he can’t ignore me.”

  He sent Joan home, but would not leave the office himself until late the following evening. He had too much at risk from deployment of a Truth Machine: his wealth, his freedom, possibly his life. So he calculated that the best way to prevent the device from being built was to become involved with Armstrong’s company. Once I get close to Armstrong, I’ll outwit the naive little twerp.9

  He spent the next 15 hours writing up a business plan.

  Then the first call he made was to Leo Boschnak at Merrill Lynch & Schwab, with whom he had previously done three small venture capital deals. “Leo, have you seen President Hall’s announcement about Roswell’s Truth Machine Bill?”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure I understand what it all means.”

  “I think it’ll be huge. If I make a run at the Truth Machine, is Merrill interested in taking my company public?”

  “Why don’t you come up here tomorrow, say 11 a.m., and you can explain it to me.”

  Nine days later, on March 15, 2006, Merrill and Scoggins signed a letter of intent. It was a risk-free deal for Merrill, with no guarantees of performance. But as part of the agreement, each firm guaranteed not to deal with a competing firm without permission from the other. This non-competition provision would make that letter of intent a valuable document indeed.

  CHAPTER 13

  THE HOLY GRAIL

  Cambridge, Massachusetts

  May 6, 2006—The FDA approves Merck’s new drug Exovir (generic name, retrocycline), a cure for AIDS, a disease that has killed over three million Americans and nearly 200 million worldwide. Because of its obvious efficacy, double-blind studies were halted late last year so that all participants could receive the drug. A six-month regimen registered more than a 99-percent success rate, eliminating the HIV virus’s ability to replicate and allowing the body’s immune system to rebuild itself. In order for Merck to recapture its enormous research costs, a six-month dosage will cost about $96,000, but the drug is offered at reduced prices to patients who are uninsured or otherwise unable to pay the full cost.—An Irish Catholic terrorist group takes credit for blowing a hole in the Chunnel linking Britain and France, drowning at least 1,378 motorists, with 16 still missing. Repairs are expected to take several months. Prime Minister Harrison vows the terrorists will be caught and brought to justice. A reward of up to five million pounds sterling is offered for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.—Scientists in Berkeley, California, announce they have the technology to predict earthquakes anywhere in the world at least four hours before they occur. The scientists maintain their predictions will be over 99-percent accurate to within 30 minutes of the time of the tremor. At least 1,700 monitoring stations would have to be built, but experts forecast that once constructed, the system could save millions of lives this century, mostly in Asia.

  They’d been there less than 15 minutes and already Pete had counted four identical gag bumper stickers: “Politicians repent! The Truth Machine is coming.”

  He sat with David at a table outside Brigham’s Ice Cream on Memorial Drive, Skipper at his feet. It was a beautiful sunny day and the streets and sidewalks were crowded with cars and pedestrians.

  Pete pressured David. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime. You can be my partner: fifty-fifty. We’ll change the world, and become famous and rich beyond our wildest dreams.” On this, his greatest adventure, he wanted his best friend by his side, but knew David was reluctant because he didn’t feel he could contribute enough. “Remember, the Truth Machine was your idea to begin with.”

  “All I did was throw out the concept in Theo-Soc. I never took it seriously until you did. You’re the one who saw it as a real possibility.”

  David knew Pete could get plenty of funding and was sure he would succeed; he felt he was being offered a free ride. “Look, Pete,” he added, “I’m really flattered. But I want to finish law school, marry Diana, and settle down in Dallas. My mom and brother are there and I need to be near them. Besides, I’ve always planned on going into public service. You know I don’t really care much about money.”

  “Damn. I just can’t imagine doing this without you.”

  Reaching down to feed Skipper the rest of his chicken sandwich, Pete’s thoughts turned to Leonard, who could have been a perfect partner. Now his surrogate brother, David West, was deserting him, too.

  He began to rock.

  David saw his friend’s distress. “Come to think of it, Dallas might be the perfect place to build your company. Great location; DFW airport’s bigger than the entire island of Manhattan, and you can travel anywhere from there—fast! Plus there’s no state income tax in Texas. I figure that’s got to be worth an extra $50 billion to you.”

  David’s smile said, I understand you and I’ll always be your friend. “Tell you what. You can hire me as your lawyer for the first few years, at least until I run for office. I’ll work cheap! We can even buy houses in the same neighborhood—if you don’t mind living in a slum.”

  They both laughed.

  Pete, who had amassed a net worth in excess of $20 million and could have
moved into the penthouse suite at Charles River Towers, had been forced to live on campus instead because David couldn’t afford an apartment and refused to let Pete pay their rent himself. While admiring the principle, Pete was getting tired of it; David never let him pay for anything. Only in the past year had he even agreed to use Pete’s telephone to call his family in Texas, and then only because Pete had programmed his computer to send the long-distance portion over the Internet, legally converting them into free calls.10

  “I’ll think about it,” Pete said, “but it’d be a much easier decision if you’d go in on this with me.”

  “That just isn’t gonna happen. But I’ll miss the hell out of you if you’re not around. I hope you decide to live in Dallas anyway.”

  “I might. Meanwhile, I’m trying to put a team together. I may need your help. You’re the best judge of character I know and I’m probably the worst.”

  “Not true. But of course I’m happy to help. Just let me know when and where.”

  “How about this afternoon at the B-School?” Pete had already arranged a meeting with Marjorie Tilly, whom David knew fairly well, and Harvard Business School Professor Maximilian Honeycutt, whom both David and Pete knew only by reputation.

  Six days earlier Senator Roswell’s Truth Machine Bill, S. 2089, had been signed into law by President Hall. S. 2089 had been easy to push through Congress, since there appeared to be no immediate losers. Only minor changes were made to the original draft.

  Even the legislators weren’t frightened by the concept of a Truth Machine. Like almost all humans at the time, the average legislator considered him- or herself to be above-average in terms of honesty. Rare was the politician who wouldn’t gladly agree to be tested for truthfulness—as long as his or her opponents were subjected to the same test.

  Roswell’s staff had estimated that deployment of Truth Machines in federal, state, and county systems alone would save $42 billion annually. “And that figure only reflects the reduced costs of shorter trials and more plea-bargains and civil settlements,” Roswell told the full senate. “It doesn’t begin to take into account the untold benefits of redirecting lawyers to less adversarial pursuits and the other rewards of greater justice.”

  Scientists had predicted that a foolproof Truth Machine could be 50 to 80 years in the making. The street-smart Roswell correctly figured that only old-fashioned greed could speed up the process. The Bill was designed to tap into that greed. “Why not offer part of the money the Truth Machine would save government to the first company to produce a foolproof device?” he’d asked. “Let Wall Street investors come up with the R&D money.”

  A risk-free plan for government, S. 2089 created the most important new American industry since the personal computer.

  The Truth Machine Bill was essentially a contract between government and private industry. Its main points were:

  THE PRIZE:

  1) The first company to build a working Truth Machine was guaranteed a 10-year, $21 billion per annum (adjusted for inflation) government contract to administer truth tests throughout the criminal and civil justice system.

  2) A special patent would be issued, good for 25 years.

  3) The company could derive additional income from any other legal use of the Truth Machine cleared by Congress.

  4) The company would operate at least one testing site for every geographical area of up to one million population and a minimum of 500 testing sites nationwide. The company could then offer the government additional testing sites. If it did, one-third of any savings to the government, as calculated by an independent board, would be paid to the company.

  THE CONDITIONS:

  1) The Truth Machine had to be 100-percent accurate at detecting intentional deceit. A special panel including representatives from the Justice Department, FBI, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Communication Commission, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institute of Health would devise tests. The testing process could take no longer than eight months and the panel’s decision would be final.

  2) The Truth Machine had to work on any mentally competent individual, including those adjudged criminally insane. Only those determined clinically incompetent, roughly one-half of one percent of the population between the ages of 5 and 85 could be deemed exempt. The Truth Machine would be responsible for identifying with absolute certainty any person falling into that category.

  3) Upon completion of the Truth Machine, the CEO and any other chosen employees of the successful inventing company, would be subjected to the Truth Machine themselves. Under the authority of government attorneys, they would be asked such questions as: “Are you aware of any illegal acts committed in developing the Truth Machine’s technology?” and “Are there any imperfections that might compromise adherence to any conditions of the Truth Machine Bill?”

  4) The successful company would not be permitted to use or offer any Truth Machine technology outside the United States, directly or indirectly, without authorization from Congress.

  ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS:

  1) Crimes committed prior to S. 2089’s enactment (April 30, 2006) discovered solely as a result of the Truth Machine would be “grandfathered” as non-prosecutable offenses. All crimes committed after that date would be subject to discovery and prosecution.

  2) After the Truth Machine’s approval, any accused or convicted criminal could accede to Truth Machine questioning to prove innocence. Convicted capital cases would be given first priority.

  The Bill was less controversial than most experts had predicted; there were surprisingly few demonstrations by individual rights or privacy rights groups. Many Americans were leery of the idea, but most admitted it was worth a try; the concept of any human beings receiving death sentences for crimes they didn’t commit was anathema to the American spirit. And the “grandfather” provision certainly helped reduce opposition. In fact without it, most historians agree that the Bill could never have passed.

  S. 2089 had the desired effect. The Truth Machine immediately became the proverbial “holy grail” of the high-tech business community.

  Tilly arrived at Pete and David’s room and the three proceeded to the Business School. The famous Oxford-educated Maximilian Honeycutt, entering his 12th year as full professor at the Harvard Business School, was also assistant dean of the school and a popular teacher of a course entitled “Entrepreneurial Startups.” Pete had never taken Honeycutt’s course but, having read all three of his books, was an admirer of the 51-year-old professor.

  Rising to greet them from the tidy desk in his large office, Honeycutt cut an elegant figure: slender and impeccably dressed, with sandy gray hair and mustache, both neatly trimmed. Tilly was surprised to see no market-quote machines or program-trade processors, only a primitive Pentium-4 desktop computer with its high-definition screen barely two feet wide. The printer was a three-year-old HP7400, capable of running just 90 color pages a minute, or 150 in black and white. She figured, He must use these relics for word processing, desktop publishing, and not much else.

  Honeycutt spoke directly to Pete. “I understand you’re entering the Truth Machine race. I also hear you’re considered the odds-on favorite.”

  “Yes, sir. But I’ll need a lot of help. M-My expertise is in computer programming. I, er, I have no business experience at all.”

  “I have some information for you and some advice. First of all, you might be interested to know that one of my former students, Charles Scoggins, was here to see me a few weeks ago. He’s trying to put together a company to compete for the same prize you’re chasing. He already has some impressive talent lined up and he’s willing to issue serious stock options to attract the right people. Made me a rather generous offer, I might add, although based on what I know of him, I suspect he’d try to renegotiate if I’d actually accepted it.”

  “What a hyprocrite!” David exclaimed.

  Honeycutt smiled faintly. “Apparently you know Mr. Scoggins.”

  “I had n-no idea
.” Pete was shocked. “I knew Charles was into venture capital these days, but in Theo-Soc he always spoke, uh, as if he thought the Truth Machine was a terrible idea.”

  “A $210 billion government contract is hard to resist.”

  “I guess so. Still, I’m surprised. Um, y-you said you also had some advice for me?”

  “Yes. First, ethics is becoming the most critical skill for any business owner to learn, so I’ll give you a 20-second crash course. Make sure every plan and every judgment you make is for the long haul. Always keep your word and never go for the quick dollar. The real value in any business is gained by building a franchise of customer loyalty over a long period of time. If you measure every decision by that standard, your ethics will be just fine.

  “Second, don’t follow Mr. Scoggins’s lead of granting big stock options. Make sure you keep controlling interest in your company—that’s at least 50.1 percent, not 49.9—or you’ll find that other people will determine your destiny. I’ve watched hundreds of visionaries give away too much stock at the beginning. Later on, when they needed to grant options to attract good workers or issue stock to raise capital, they lost voting control. It often became just a matter of time before others took over their companies.”

  Pete listened carefully; everything Honeycutt said made sense. They traded ideas and anecdotes for two hours. Pete and Tilly explained their plans for the company that would be called Armstrong Technologies, Inc. (ATI). They intended to raise seed money to fund a series of software and data-processing projects. Their people would hone their skills on those projects and the profits would fund R&D on the Truth Machine.