The Infinet

by John Akers

  Pax’s eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean by ’appropriate influence on society?’”

  “It means, for example, if someone demonstrates an expert understanding and greater experience in a particular area, say public policy, and their recommendations in that area prove to be more beneficial to the whole of society over time, that person’s viewpoints on such issues will carry proportionally greater weight than someone else’s.”

  “But how in the world would the Infinet decide what each person’s appropriate levels are?” Pax asked.

  “Through continuous observation and assessment. If the Infinet is continuously connected to people, it can observe their behavior and form a comprehensive understanding of each person’s qualities. Their intelligence, knowledge, degree of empathy, charisma, and so on. With this information, it can then control the stimuli they are presented and assess the quality of their responses on an ongoing, real-time basis.”

  “Whatever happened to the idea of ‘one person, one vote?’”

  Without hesitating, Alethia said, “If you were the owner of a professional sports team, and you needed to find someone to manage the team, you’d look for someone who knew something about the game, correct?”

  “Of course.”

  “Someone who preferably had a track record of successfully leading teams to more wins than losses? Who had led a team to a championship?” Pax nodded.

  “Then why should someone who knows nothing about the details of public policy, or budgeting, and who demonstrates no empathy for other people, have an equal say in how public funds should be used? What sense is there in giving everyone an equal vote without considering the effectiveness of that person’s opinions over time?”

  “Because it’s every person’s right to have his or her voice heard, and heard equally,” Pax said. In truth, however, her argument struck a chord with him. His years of research with users had shown him how quickly people became overwhelmed with complexity and how short-circuited their decision-making processes typically were. Even for important decisions, such as buying a mortgage, or choosing who should run the government, most people fell back on highly simplified, unrealistic assumptions. But given the current situation, he felt compelled to continue playing Devil’s advocate.

  “No, Mr. Pax, it’s because there hasn’t been a better way. But now there is. The Infinet gives us the ability to take such considerations into account, and track the effectiveness of people’s choices and actions over time.”

  “There’s no way it could control stimuli at such a low level, without people noticing,” interrupted Pax. “If you try to block access to particular websites, or applications, people won’t stand for it. Repression never works in the long run.”

  “The Infinet won’t block people from doing anything, Mr. Pax, unless it's something that poses a clear risk to society. It will simply condition them, over time, to choose to engage in certain behaviors rather than others. The Infinet will reward behaviors that benefit both society and the individual, and not reward—and sometimes negatively reinforce—behaviors that do not. In a surprisingly short amount of time, people’s behavior can be shaped to do just about anything through skillful application of positive reinforcement. People’s desire for undue power and influence over others will extinguish over time, and they’ll find themselves voluntarily spending their time in pursuit of more spiritually rewarding activities.”

  “Such as?” asked Pax

  “Meditation. Prayer. Studying philosophy. Interacting with one another and with nature. Learning how to play a musical instrument or a new language. Traveling and immersing oneself in other cultures. Teaching others.”

  “Hmph,” Pax scoffed. “Good luck with that.”

  “Oh, there’s no doubt it will work,” said Alethia. “Much of what is often attributed to free will can be explained by principles of operant conditioning, most of which were identified by B.F. Skinner in the 1950s and 60s. They are so powerful that with the right application of reinforcements on the right schedule you can shape a person’s behavior into doing just about anything. It’s why advertising has such a powerful effect on our behavior, and it’s what underlies many self-destructive behaviors. Versions of it such as propaganda and military training can compel otherwise rational people to commit acts of unspeakable cruelty.

  “As Elena mentioned to you on the ship, a Univiz happens to be one of the best dopamine delivery mechanisms ever invented. By combining the Infinet with the Univiz, all human behavior can be shaped with a level of precision never before possible. It will ensure not only that our species survives, but that it thrives. And over multiple generations, through the process of epigenetics, in which the expression of DNA sequences, rather than the DNA sequence itself, can be altered, and the alterations passed down to subsequent generations.”

  “If a Univiz is so addictive,” said Pax, “how can it help people shift to doing the other sorts of activities you mentioned?”

  “A Univiz isn’t inherently addictive. It’s the way it’s being used by most people that makes it that way. In particular, millions of third-party apps are constantly competing for each user’s attention and money through a constant barrage of stimuli and immediate rewards. It’s like walking through an endless Las Vegas casino, where every app is a new game and you never leave the casino.

  “But with the Infinet acting as a benevolent overseer, it can steer people away from the casino and reward them for pursuing other activities, including ones that don’t involve a Univiz.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” said Pax. “If people used it less, how could it keep track of what people are doing?”

  “The same way it found out you like Nutella crepes: From video from other people’s public UV feeds. From the 20 billion other cameras around the world. From presence detection sensors on 50 billion internet connected devices. From social media. And so on. And when someone puts their UV back on, it can backfill gaps in the timeline based on information it gathers after the fact.

  “The Infinet has already accessed and processed all publicly available information ever created,” she continued. “It has done the same for 95 percent of the information stored in the Deep-Web—nonpublic online databases that standard search engines can’t access, either by obtaining its own memberships, or by getting access through one of our members. In your case, it found several public video archives of you buying crepes in Paris on four separate occasions over a two-year period.”

  “You’re saying the Infinet already has full profiles of every person on this planet, down to that level of detail?” asked Pax.

  Alethia gave a single, definitive shake of her head. “I’m saying it has profiles at that level of detail for every person that has ever lived. If Leonardo da Vinci’s housekeeper kept a diary that contained observations about him, the Univiz knows it.

  Pax’s eyelids narrowed. “Care to prove that?”

  “Certainly. Ask me any detail about any person at any time. Preferably one you can verify, of course.”

  He tried to think of an event someone else had told him about, one from a long time ago, that didn’t involve him directly. They’d obviously done their homework on him. After a moment he came up with one.

  “I assume you know about my friend, Cevis?”

  “Of course, the Infinet knows about Mr. Pierson,” Alethia said.

  “When he was a teenager, he took a summer vacation with his family. It was the only vacation he ever took with them,” Pax said.

  “All right,” said Alethia.

  “Where did they go?”

  Immediately, two holographic words appeared in the air about three feet away from them.

  Virginia Beach

  Video snippets of Cevis and his parents taken from cameras in the hotel they stayed in appeared all around them. Pax’s mouth fell open.

  “Would you like to give it another test?” asked Alethia.

  Pax nodded, slowly. He tried to think of something he’d heard about, something t
hat didn’t involve him or anyone he personally knew. Then he remembered something Denise McIntyre had mentioned to him about her son a few weeks earlier.

  “A boy named Bobby McIntyre who lives in Del Mar recently had a major life event. What…”

  Before he could even finish asking the question, “What was it?” more words appeared.

  Bobby McIntyre

  22 years old

  Oldest son of Denise McIntyre

  Proposed to his girlfriend during the fourth

  inning of a Padres game 17 days ago

  This time, Pax made a conscious effort not to let his mouth fall open.

  “Want to do another?”

  “No, I think that’s enough, for now,” said Pax, still in shock at the speed with which the answer had been given. Keep her talking, he thought. “So what kind of integration with the Univiz is the Infinet proposing?”

  In a manner-of-fact manner, Alethia said, “It needs superuser access to every Univiz.”

  This time, Pax was too stunned to react. He felt as if he’d been injected with ice water.

  “And to the machine that manages the codebase, as well,” she added. “So it can make systemwide modifications when necessary.”

  The suggestion was so monumentally absurd, it made Pax fearful she had made it anyway. With superuser access to every Univiz, a user could do anything he or she wanted, to any UV they wanted, including modifying the kernel, the very heart of the operating system. Access to the kernel for devices already in the field was very rarely granted even to top-level support personnel or QA engineers, and when it was, it was only for a particular account and for a limited amount of time. No one, not even Qathi, had ongoing superuser permissions for even a single user account because of the risk. Even an innocent mistake could cause an irrevocable system crash and loss of any and all data for that user. Granting anyone—especially an AI—such unlimited power across all accounts would run the risk of throwing civilization into chaos.

  Doing his best to appear nonplussed, Pax chuckled and forced a smile. “Oh, well, if that’s all you want. Why didn’t you just say so earlier?”

  Alethia, however, did not smile. In fact, she wore a look of grim certitude. “We know it’s an enormous thing to ask,” she said, her eyes leveled on his, “especially from a group of people you’d never heard of until a few days ago. But it’s the only way to ensure the Infinet can help turn humanity away from the precipice of self-destruction.”

  “Just for my own curiosity,” said Pax, “why does the Infinet think it needs root access to, you know, absolutely everything?”

  “To maximize its ability to influence people, it must be able to monitor every aspect of every UV’s operation, so that it can control every stimulus presented to a user down to the tiniest detail. It also needs the power to preemptively block any attempt by another system to install anything that would either intentionally or unintentionally interfere with its ability to monitor all activity and manage the presentation of all stimulus.”

  “I see. Sounds interesting, in theory. But don’t you think your request is a bit excessive? I mean, you’re asking me to hand over the keys to the Magic Kingdom, for free. And were you planning to test what you’re proposing at some point? You’re asking an awful lot for something that’s based on a lot of conjecture.”

  “We’ve already tested it,’” said Alethia.

  “What? How?” said Pax. “You haven’t had the Univiz…” Suddenly, a horrifying thought occurred to him. “This Infinet hasn’t found a way to hack into UVs, has it?” He felt the hairs on his neck standing on end. “If it has, so help me I’ll…”

  “No,” said Alethia, cutting him off. “That would be illegal. As I’ve already told you, the Infinet adheres to all local and international laws.”

  “Then how in the hell could you have tested this thing?”

  “The Infinet created its own Univiz.”

  “It did what?” Pax felt hairs prickling up all over his body.

  “It created a prototype version of a Univiz,” said Alethia. “Remember all the UVs you saw the members of our society wearing as we rode up to the tower? Those were not Omnitech UVs, but prototypes created by the Infinet. Much simpler than a real UV, but better adapted to the sort of controlled experience a user would have with the Infinet at the helm.”

  “Jesus,” said Pax. “How many did it create?”

  “Just over a million. One for every member of our society.”

  “A million,” Pax repeated numbly.

  “Of course, it’s a tiny number in comparison to the overall population,” Alethia continued, “but it’s sufficiently large and varied enough in terms of geographic region, ethnicity, culture, language, etcetera, to be representative of humanity in general. Obviously, it cost a lot of money to create that many devices, but with the Infinet, money is not a concern. It took 30 minutes for the Infinet to design it, then another three months to manufacture and distribute them. It has been observing and guiding our members ever since.”

  “And how’s that going?” Pax asked as he felt a wave of anger rising inside him. Clearly they were trying to strong-arm him by demonstrating they could build their own UV if he chose not to go along with them. From what he’d seen over the past few days, there was no doubt that an Infinet UV would be faster, less expensive, and without the bloated feature set that had crept into Omnitech UVs over the years. The thought that they would threaten him in such a way was infuriating.

  “Extremely well,” said Alethia. “Better than any of us had hoped, in fact. Everyone in our society—including me—has confirmed the tremendously positive impact the Infinet’s guidance has had on their lives. It has helped us drop bad habits and cure long-standing addictions. It has freed us from worrying about things we can’t control and helped us take pleasure in doing what we can to make the world a better place. More than anything, it has instilled a tremendous sense of empathy, love, and peace in our hearts.”

  “So, if the Infinet is so powerful, why do you need my help?” he asked through clenched teeth. “Why not just mass produce a production version of the Infinet’s Univiz and not have to bother with me?”

  “Time, Mr. Pax. Time. The process of getting the 4.5 billion people already using a Univiz to switch to a new product, even a much cheaper alternative, would take years. Given the nontrivial possibility of humanity triggering a self-extinction event at almost any time, that’s time we don’t have. The Infinet strongly believes the only viable solution is to integrate with existing UVs. Then it could start influencing people immediately.”

  “Nice to see you considered running me out of business as one of your options.”

  “The Infinet considers every possibility when solving a problem, Mr. Pax. Particularly a problem as significant as this one.”

  “You do realize half the world’s population doesn’t even use a Univiz, don’t you?” Pax asked. “What about them?”

  “The Infinet would continue to monitor anyone not using a Univiz in the same way as anyone who does when they’re not using it. However, it’s ability to control the presentation of stimuli of non-UV users would necessarily be limited. But when those people not using a Univiz see the benefits of being connected to the Infinet, they’ll fall all over themselves to get one. We would also help Omnitech create a low-cost version, to help people in developing countries afford one. The Infinet estimates Omnitech’s year-over-year sales would jump more than 300 percent in the first year alone. Plus, it wouldn’t even require notifying existing users of the change.“

  “What are you talking about? Of course it would!”

  “Legally it wouldn’t,” Alethia said. “Your company’s privacy policy entitles you to collect whatever data you want, and to use it however you want, as long as you don’t use it to personally identify anyone. But if Omnitech decides to have a third-party quantum computer process all UV user data in real-time in order to customize each person’s user experience, it is well within its rights to do so
.”

  “That’s—that’s crazy!” Pax said in exasperation.

  “Even if people did come to realize their behavioral data was being used to influence them,” Alethia continued, “the vast majority of your users wouldn’t mind. Everything we’re proposing is in line with your original vision for the Univiz, Mr. Pax. To make people’s lives simpler and better. People still believe in that vision, and they believe in your ability to make it happen. But simply slathering more and more tech on top of the same old human operating system isn’t the solution. People themselves need to be upgraded.”

  Pax felt like his head had been through a washing machine. He wondered if he should just lie and agree to what they were asking, to try and get them to let him leave. Legally he could prove he’d been coerced into a verbal agreement because he feared for his life. But he wasn’t a good liar. The Infinet, probably even Alethia, would almost certainly detect any attempt by him to deceive them.

  Instead he opted to delay. “This is quite a proposal,” he said. “I’ll need some time to digest what you’ve told me, of course. Maybe you can take a few minutes to show me how this thing manages to stay upright, now that we’re at the top?”

  Now Alethia began to look even more anxious than when he’d asked her to tell him about herself. “Of course, Mr. Pax. I can do that. But the Infinet feels it’s urgent to get to a decision on this first. Do you have other questions about our proposal I could answer, so that we could at least reach an agreement in principle…”

  “Look, I need to give my brain a few minutes to digest what you’ve told me here. To do that, I need to think about something else for a bit. So can you take five minutes to show how this thing works? Pretty please?”

  Alethia, still looking agitated, looked off to the side for a moment. Then she sighed and said, “Certainly, Mr. Pax. I’ll show you how the tower works.” She walked the remaining few steps to the window. “Step over here, please.”