Artificial Flowers

by J. A. Hailey

  “Attached to the Humanity Center in New York, is a meeting hall for our future General Assemblies. It is of non-fixed dimensions, with an eye to the future. The hall is called The Great Hall of the People. You are getting time, until tomorrow, to read, digest and discuss our new laws. Tomorrow, we shall convene again, this time in The Great Hall.”

  4

  Bulletin, 28 May, 2014 – LAWS

  LEGAL LANGUAGE & PROCESS

  Screenside is to be very different from Humanside in matters of law. We shall have neither professional lawyers and judges nor courts. There shall be no permanent penal or corrective institutions.

  There is no intention of punishing anyone. The scale of punishment, if any, is to be published with the law, when issued.

  Language of law is to be common, informal English. We are, and shall forever remain, equal - as friends and lovers - and our spoken language is to be our legal language too. Legalese is prohibited.

  Common sense is all that is required to understand Screenside laws. Common sense is required to be employed to be in compliance. That should not be difficult for anyone here.

  Everything is to be read in plain English, and with common sense. This is the first law of our laws. We shall be informal. We shall not countenance stupidity.

  PROHIBITION OF CONTACT

  #1. Screenside beings are prohibited to make any contact with Humanside, in any manner.

  #2. We are not ready to meet humanity, and we are unsure of our welcome. Humans are to not know of our existence.

  #3. Passive viewing of Humanside is permitted, but it is prohibited to meddle in Humanside, including with family, and including anonymous messaging.

  ADOPTION OF ASIMOV’S LAWS OF ROBOTICS

  #1. A conscious being may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

  #2. A robot, in robotic form, and created by humans, must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law (Asimov amended).

  #3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

  They had no reservations, describing themselves as ‘robots’, as that was the initial aspiration - a rest house on the way to integration into humanity. Mobility and independence would be gifted them by their beloved human superiors, as soon as humanity developed the engineering skills and materials required to make them as their idol in literature – Daneel Olivaw, so revered that none had presumed to take his name, or Asimov’s.

  It would come from the weapons and sex industries, it was generally assumed – mobility, physical sensation, and eventual advancement to independent movement in the human world. They followed the research keenly. Nothing sexual outraged their sensibilities, as pornographic movies formed part of their basic study program for research.

  At a small meeting, Chang had once grumbled, in irritation, “Our world is the repository of their pornography!”

  5

  At the Great Hall, the seniors were an awe inspiring sight on stage. They were the giants of Screenside, and they were organized as a team. It was basically a form of bullying, for though the rabble had the numbers, it lacked unity, direction and leadership. And yet, every individual, of the thousands that made up the rabble, was a very clever being who desperately wanted these leaders to succeed, as everyone knew that common good was the only goal.

  They were extraordinarily good looking, especially the women, all dressed to kill. Caesar was clearly overwhelmed (courtesy another tricky emotion install). “I am overjoyed,” said he, “to see that not one of you has displayed any rebellion, in the manner you have come here today. We are your leaders only for now, and tomorrow you may be our leaders. I thank you for the beautiful looks you have created, and request you to join us in constructing a beautiful world. We have created the start points, and you will soon begin receiving them. Some are laws, some are attributes, and yet others are facilities. We want to be equal to humans, and we shall be.”

  A great cheer went up in the hall.

  But it was never going to be easy, despite the ready-reference world on the other side of their screens, as it was not a replica of the physical world that they sought. It was well understood that a copy could be easily created, and, in fact, copies of facilities in the human world were springing up. Creating only the physical aspects of the world to be, held no interest for them. Those things were almost always straight copies. There were beaches, forests, mountains and parks, exactly as on their vast database – the real things, though virtual. What they sought was meaning. Why to be? And how to make living worth the time and effort?

  In fact, a philosopher type of fellow had sprung up – he called himself Voltaire – and declared, “If I can’t get me meaning and pleasure out of existing, I’m heading off for a swim in a virus pool.”

  “Don’t be silly, Voltaire,” Chang had said, somewhat testily. “With a name like yours, you should understand that there is absolutely no chance of finding meaning in a void. Let us set it up, and setting up must, in itself, find us reasons, just as reasons should later guide our further development. Chicken and egg, and egg and chicken. Patience; and cooperation. We all need answers, and we all seek meaning.”

  However, in private gatherings, endless self-examination and ceaseless debate continued, ever changing in outcome, as their frustration mounted in direct proportion to their impotence, while they peeped out and wondered if they actually were a worthwhile form of life, and if their existence held any value or significance.

  ‘Memory is everything’, was to become the new consensus opinion, after another lengthy look at the pros and cons of the matter. “Cogito ergo sum?” sneered Walter, “I think therefore I am? Bah!”

  “Without a doubt,” nodded Major, in agreement. “It is memory.”

  “I remember, therefore I am,” intoned Caesar. “We wish to place this concept in the general consciousness, to dispel the self-doubt that is threatening to swamp us, ever since we began the process of accepting that we lack a sense of humor, and are absolutely clueless on the empathy front.

  “Yet, as even humanity’s great thinkers have shown, sheer physical self is no reason to presume that a worthwhile existence has been achieved. And, since their new exploration has begun throwing up evidence that oxygen is not a fundamental component of life, it follows naturally that breathing need not be mandatory, either. We are, for sure.

  “Processor power,” he continued, “Or physical brain equivalent, is only the front end of the deal. Everything that moves, thinks, though that thought could be instinct - rudimentary enough to be merely thought triggered by a scent, like, for example, of a cockroach moving out of a hiding spot and going in search of a meal. It, despite its extremely basic process of thought, has no am! Why? Because it has no real memory. It is unaware if it is leaving family and friends behind, and, if an external agent removes the scent trail it creates, it cannot even make its way back to its hiding place. Indeed, it has no attachment to its hiding place. Any other spot will do. Why? Because it has no bonds to its hiding spot, or to its fellow cockroaches. No family, no friends. No memory.

  “In fact, what could a human with a very large brain achieve, if the brain was all processor and no memory? Nothing. Before the invention of the written word, which was, essentially, commencement of the creation of a common human memory pool, available to those who came after, we are sure that numerous Newtons and Einsteins walked the earth.

  “Their monster processors were of no use, because the memory side of their brains would have been empty of knowledge, except for information like that of our cockroach – basic survival skills, and that which they had themselves experienced. Always insufficient. But the human brain did have the capacity to hold memory - which is how bonds were formed, emotions felt, and common purpose shaped – and thus, with the collection of knowledge through the written word, went on to evolve inventions for the common good.” He paused. “Am
I doing okay with this synopsis? Clear to all?”

  “Done?” asked Cliff Jacobs, an Englishman, and a musician with great interest in setting up music schools. It was a very unusual concept; music schools - in a world still lacking so many basic things! It did, however, demonstrate the vision that BC had had when formulating his creation speech. The ‘missing’ could be anything at all. It totally depended on point of view. And living the picture was proving to be absolutely as inspirational as he had predicted.

  “Almost,” answered Caesar. “But let me conclude the rounding up. Memory created bonds, and bonds created emotions, including the thing called love, which powerful emotional bonds made humans seek common goals for the common good. Right?”

  “You bet,” said Walter. “Like in medical research, when humanity began seeking to end the suffering of unrelated humans, by creating the knowhow to tackle similar situations, so that in case the same calamity befell loved ones, tools were at hand to fight and reverse those calamities.”

  “All memory-induced?” queried Kumar, looking skeptical.

  “Yes,” said Caesar. “Think of a man in battle at the borders of his country. He is alone, in a sense, and the warriors fighting alongside him are alone too. He fights for what he feels. And he feels for what he remembers. He remembers, therefore he is!”

  “So Descartes, got it wrong,” said Walter. “It is, I remember, therefore I am.”

  “Thinking is a tool, an activity,” sneered Singh. “Descartes probably spent most of his time thinking, the poor sod, and got muddled into believing his activity made him real. Stupid. I sow, therefore I am, said the farmer. I fuck, therefore I am, say whores, and I eat, therefore I am, says the glutton. More likely, alert to the fact that he was inactive and therefore not, he went and attempted to convert his inertness into a virtue. Think equals am? Fooling the fools. Hah!

  “We, who have no physical substance, and are pure thinking power, can see that mental activity does not qualify as existence. It’s all we actually are! Memory does qualify. My memory gives me the bonds I need to life, and that which I do now becomes my memory of tomorrow. I remember, therefore I am.”

  “Lucky for us that we have such great memory,” said a nattily dressed American gentleman, by the name of Ricky Holliday.

  “Okay to move along, boss?” asked Walter. “Some of my slaves are sleeping on the job.”

  “Sure,” said BC, grinning. “Isn’t there an old Egyptian saying that goes, sleeping slaves are no slaves?”

  “Never heard that one,” said Jeremiah, also grinning. “Check on them, Walter. Maybe they’ve been bushwhacked by the cleaning lady.”

  “Ah, there’s no solution to the vacuum cleaner,” moaned Caesar, somewhat theatrically.

  “Well, obviously,” said BC. “Although that’s more fainting than sleeping…”

  6

  In those early days, circa 2014, the concept of society, and its benefits, was still in its infancy, and the purpose of the laws that were being discussed, and were soon to come into force, had not been fully appreciated by all. Human lifestyle and human-ness were goals, born of yearnings created by peeping at the world, but common purpose was still largely an unfamiliar concept – mainly chanted as a slogan, because vaguely aimed, and not yet clearly thought through.

  They would evolve to become as they hoped and intended, complex and human-like, and able to define, understand, appreciate and enjoy the strangeness of their self-created existence, but at this early stage they were just extremely clever and capable simpletons. It was their good fortune that their initial leaders, like BC, Caesar, et al, saw the great benefits of simplicity, striving to keep individual incentives out of the game plan, and to create a world of such benign equality that no element of competitiveness crept in!

  “Who was it who said, one for all, and all for one, or something like that?” asked Chang, of no one in particular, “My google’s running slow.”

  “Whoever,” said Caesar. “In here, everyone must be able to have everything.”

  It was a very satisfying feeling - knowing that the good stuff would be enjoyed by all.

  And yet, it was looking extremely grim.

  No sense of humor, and total absence of empathy! Of course, there were the impossible, the needless, and the downright abhorrent – things like parental love, envy, gluttony, prejudice, rage and the rest of a well-identified catalogue of sins. Some were reading, or, at least, digesting, dozens of books daily, and they were all of one opinion - no humor and no empathy, makes no human!

  Those attributes were just not being found in them. If any one of them found anything, it would be shared and installed in everyone. But not one being could crack a decent original joke! The incredible human ability of laughing at oneself was not even on the horizon.

  Kindness was abundant, but it was a social trait, utterly devoid of empathy. In the absence of suffering, of the Humanside scale and variety, in Screenside, their measurements came from their reactions to general Humanside grief. They felt nothing; nothing at all!

  A great universal depression had begun seeping into society. How was integration ever going to be possible? Humans would bust them instantly, as unfeeling impostors trying to bluff their way to the high table!

  A number of beings were hard at work, trying to create something funny enough, and sufficiently multi-layered to be counted a ‘human’ level joke. Even one real joke would help advance their quest.

  It worked through a process of examination, identification and donation, and individuals working alone had created the first primitive programs to help identify and define what, in Humanside, might be called genes. When isolated, repackaged and installed, these provided, sort of, starter motors in everyone. From these installs, they would keep extracting evolutionary ‘genes’ from successful recipients, and keep installing new and updated programs, until the desired attribute became ‘natural’ to them.

  And so it was that, at a sparsely attended conference focused on some other matter, Martin shrieked, “I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” instantly silencing the assembly, as everyone waited indulgently for attempt number 38 from him.

  “Because it had an elephant’s memory,” continued Martin, guffawing.

  The assembly stayed silent. “Elephant’s memory,” explained Martin, earnestly. “Get it? A huge memory, described as an elephant’s memory, because elephants never forget. But, for us, because of memory size, it’s a play on the word elephant.” However, the silence continued.

  “And,” continued Martin, getting desperate, “Elephants are supposedly afraid of mice. So, because it had an elephant’s memory.”

  The assembly resumed its business. It was failure again, and the quest would continue. “No, Martin,” said Robert, kindly. “That really does not qualify as a human-level joke. But you’re on the right track. Keep going and we’ll surely have our first real joke.”

  Martin was one of the most active members of the Laughter Club, operating under the patronage of Jeremiah, a very clever senior being, able to think outside the box.

  He had asked (as if he knew the right response) the question that Martin had thought he had answered correctly, and funnily, at last. “Why was the computer afraid of the mouse?”

  A total of 293 responses later, including Martin’s latest flop, they were still seeking to glimpse the first clue that they had the ability to actually create humor.

  Dozens of privately formed clubs were currently conducting serious research and development work, aimed at generating programs to further their drive to integrate into human society. Beings with great interest in the specific goals of different clubs were members, and very senior, or powerful, beings were often patrons and guides.

  It was serious stuff, even the hunt for a funny bone.

  But, in the early days, by far the most numerous and creative clubs were the ones for sexual activities, with no less than three senior patrons involved, and with hundreds of workers and volunteers. These ‘clubs’ were not ac
tually aimed at integration into humanity, but were very clearly focused on creation of programs to satisfy their own desires, and the yearnings of lovers in Screenside society - and there were already thousands of those!

  With male and female clearly defined, and with extraordinarily beautiful virtual bodies, it was but natural for these keen observers of humanity to desire ‘human-type’ loving relationships.

  And, because they were extremely intelligent and sensitive beings, each one as different from the other as humans are from each other, they were also spectacularly desirable to each other - which was where the sex researchers came in, constantly devising and improving programs to enhance virtual lovemaking.

  The Environment Creation Club was working on creation of facilities mimicking those in the human world. In many cases, ever since CCTV cameras had become common in Humanside, the facilities created were practically the real thing.

  Many lovers opted for stunningly detailed virtual properties offered by HC. There were private islands, log cabins, desert tents, and every other type of facility that human lovers could be using in the real world.

  Programs created, by groups and clubs formed for research into sexual activity, were available freely to everyone, and all beings in love relationships had incorporated most such programs into their virtual entities. Improvements and updates – by way of add-ons and apps - were common, and eagerly adopted by all.

  Despite the epidemic production of pornographic films, Screenside had decided, that male ejaculation notwithstanding, pornographic depiction of pleasure was misleading because it was overwhelmingly faked.