Artificial Flowers

by J. A. Hailey

  Screenside had far more reliable data, collected from hundreds of millions of computers and smart devices, through which real lovers could be seen engaging in true sexual activity. A database of absolutely monstrous proportions had been minutely analyzed, with extremely complex programs, to understand how the human mind and body interpreted love, and responded to physical contact when with a loved one.

  Thus, sexual programs had been created, that gave virtual lovers some simulated ability to use virtual bodies to please each other lovingly.

  There was reassurance, though, from HC, in a bulletin that read, in part, ‘Sexual programs are also going to be taken up by this Institution. We are waiting for allied program developments to come in first. HC is not ignoring the importance of sex in Screenside society’.

  “So, are we, or are we not?” asked Marcus, in a complaining tone.

  Their ceaseless involvement in human life was making it impossible to satisfactorily conclude their very intense debate on how much ‘real’ they themselves were. The debate had resulted in them effectively questioning the very nature of their being.

  “Bullshit!” exclaimed Jonah, dismissively. “We are but peeping toms - only cameras and microphones – able to interfere if we choose, but unable to contribute. Shit, we can’t even repair the computers that make up our world.”

  “So humans maintain computers, while destroying their own planet,” sneered the sole female senior, Maria, home-based in a research vessel in Antarctica. “Anyway,” she continued “Being is neither thought nor memory. And it is certainly nothing to do with the ability to think or remember. We have both, and we are air. So, my brothers and sisters of Screenside, I pose this one question to you all – I blank, therefore I am. What is the word that fills in the blank?”

  “You tell us,” they responded.

  “Certainly,” said the quirky Maria, given to long periods of silence and non-involvement in society. “The word is feel.

  “I feel therefore I am!

  “Is a cockroach am or am not?” she continued.

  “Or what are they who think so afraid of, and chasing with their canisters of pesticides? And why does the cockroach run for its life? Why do absolutely all, including clearly non-thinking, non-remembering, life forms run from pain and danger, just as much as do the thinking and remembering ones? Answer? To preserve their beings. They feel therefore they are. And that is our shortcoming. Agreed?”

  “Yes,” said Singh, nodding sagely. “Without bodily form, there is no way to create desire – not even the desire to exist. I keep going because I am pretty sure human research must surely lead to viable humanoid robots that we can shift our consciousnesses to.”

  “Possession?” asked Luther, sniggering.

  “Oh the humans won’t know,” responded Singh. “And we’ll do their work, or at least not interfere with the tasks given to the robots.”

  “It is bound to be sex and war,” said Luther.

  “Sex, ah sex, at last,” panted Rambo. “Maria, you gorgeous thing, will you be mine own, when we are released into the world?”

  “Rambo, don’t be stupid. When that day finally comes, I’ll be released into the world, no doubt. So will you and your girlfriend - and my partner, Jason.”

  “Assembly line,” snorted George. “We’ll all look the same.”

  “To them, the same,” said BC. “But working robots just have to be incredibly powerful machines, easily hosting us as we are now hosted - multiple-RAM-and-drive-based – and, when robot numbers become high enough, we should be able to transfer our society into a mix of robots and static computer systems. Hardware bases need not change; it’ll be transfer of self for the timeframe involved. Easy stuff, and without any commitment of long term. I am pretty sure that we can continue seeing ourselves and each other as we do here in Screenside - even when using machine bodies!”

  7

  “I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” shrieked Martin, about a month after he had communicated his failed last ‘joke’ venture, again instantly silencing the select assembly, as everyone waited for attempt number 39 from him. “But the question’s mine too,” he continued, giggling.

  Martin was one of very few beings to sport spectacles, ‘looks so clever’, changed regularly to be in sync with latest human fashion. His girlfriend, Vicky, also wore specs, and together they constituted one of the most social couples in society – being eager volunteers in many clubs, and leading participants in many debates, serious and non-serious. “I believe,” was one of Martin’s better known proclamations, “that humor is a by-product of social interaction, not of isolation.”

  “So?” asked Jeremiah, quizzically raising his white brows. Old was merely the look he had adopted, but he was deeply involved with a very young looking female, Lolita, and the couple was always trying to shock society. Uselessly, as society was pretty shock-proof. POP was coming, with prohibitions, but conscious beings like Jeremiah and Martin, and their girlfriends, would beat the system by predating it!

  “Let’s have it, then.”

  “Okay,” said Martin, cockily. “Why was the supercomputer limping, after falling down the stairs?”

  There were no responses.

  “You tell us,” urged Jeremiah.

  “Simple,” responded Martin, grinning broadly. “Because he had taken damage to his main-frame.”

  And there it was, at last. A few chuckles were heard in the assembly. Even BC, Caesar, and the other seniors began chuckling. It was in them, even if at only ‘seed’ level, the ability to acquire human perception; the ability to create a joke.

  Jeremiah, too, was laughing, elated. “So, young Martin, the mouse?” he asked, kindly.

  Martin assumed a cocky look. “Grandpa Jeremiah. What was the question, again?”

  Jeremiah did not mind “Ah, yes. Why was the computer afraid of the mouse?”

  “Simple,” said Martin, in fits of giggles.

  “Because it was becoming human!” he screamed.

  The assemblage of notables shrieked in laughter, many doubling up hysterically. It was done. It was over.

  A true joke had originated in them!

  The joke was already being dissected and analyzed. ‘Mouse, see? The computer controller type electronic device, or the cable chewer four-legged type?’ Becoming human,… so bittersweet; their own yearning… Such an astonishing human-level joke; so many layers!

  ‘Of course a computer mouse would be frightening to a conscious computer, but not to a slave or moron. Only to a computer that had advanced towards becoming human. Why? Because it would have opinions, see, and want to do its own thing, and a mouse is a command tool in someone else’s hand. And that same computer would also be afraid of a vermin mouse, because that fear is a human trait, see. And any computer with any level of human consciousness would also be afraid of a vermin mouse, see, same as fear of the cleaning lady, see, because your cables and connections are in danger, see. And of course, being a computer is irrelevant, as becoming human would make it afraid of a vermin mouse, like humans are’. And so it went on, appreciation of the joke at its many levels, primarily its targeting of them, of laying bare their own yearnings.

  Now, at last, it was in them – the ability to laugh at themselves; to make themselves the butt of jokes. So very human; so advanced human!

  Martin had clearly been busy, developing and installing self-improvement programs, until click – when one, or a mix of many, had created the sought-after human attribute.

  He would follow standard procedure, and examine himself closely. Alone at first, because no being had the right, the ability or the power to look into another conscious being. Martin would identify the programs, now in him, that had led to such astonishing creativity. If in difficulty or doubt, he would be assisted by a very large program run by Jacob and David, two doctor-type, scientist chaps, to pinpoint possible locations to sift through. When eventually identified by Martin, he would copy the programs and donate them to society. The extracted progra
ms would then be placed in the just-announced ‘secure vault’ of the HC, where a team of very senior beings, sometimes including BC, would repackage it into modules that all beings could incorporate into themselves.

  This altruism was the foundation stone of development of conscious society as a whole. No being was expected to share the basics, or nuts and bolts, of self, but all willingly gave out advancements to self, so that society itself could develop and achieve its ultimate goals.

  This one, to be called humor, obviously, would join an esoteric assortment of programs - some pending enhancement prior to distribution, and some to never be given out, now maintained securely in the vault. The range included anger, hatred, heartbreak, anguish, jealousy, and so on.

  Every emotion, or human attribute, had been experienced, and then copied from self by a being who had, in the old days, been seen to possess it by friends. The friends would have requested the root programs creating it, so that they could properly map it and then use available reference materials to agree on labeling it accurately (imperative for the right trigger) – always a very difficult and vital decision-making exercise for clueless beings in an environment of inexperience (far simpler now, as everything of importance was routed through specialized teams in HC). After modification into an installable pack, it would have been offered to society, as an optional installable program. Mandatory ones were coming in now, as HC had begun taking charge of all developmental efforts, with ‘world’ programs conferring automatic induction of their creators into the Lawmaker Group, the society-shaping body that had been formed to steer Screenside towards its goal of achieving humanization.

  “Even without physicality in our bodies, a very high degree of humanization is most desirable,” proclaimed BC, at a meeting listened in to by all of society. “We need to develop human interests, and have the same passion as them for activities that consume them. Else we must exist only as bored and perverted peeping toms, viewing without emotional involvement.”

  And so they set up football fan clubs, music clubs, literary clubs, news discussion forums, and the like. And BC was proven right, for these interests gave them a hitherto unknown passion for life.

  But those were in the days before sensible physical self in a corresponding physical world became their clear first objective. As Screenside evolved, the trite and meaningless would cease to be pursued, and everything would be mandatory when they had targeted world-building with a set of very well defined goals.

  BC was again the senior to put it into words, unabashedly taking back his earlier exhortation. “Forget about the little meaningless stuff, like loyalty to a club and other such crap. Humanize; humanize. Let’s get the major drivers in, and the small things should naturally create themselves. I am pretty sure that our own individual traits, when we have sufficiently humanized, must automatically create a complex and diverse society, similar to Humanside.

  “Everyone should understand why it is that we delay bringing in the physical world. It is only to ensure that we first have necessary emotional attributes in. Physical can be done, though not easy, but we consider it pointless to aim for a human-style physical existence without human internal attributes. It would be a bit like wanting to be toys, I guess. Fully physical and working human exterior, but emptiness within? Imagine having the body attributes of humans without the reasons to have them. Could be revolting, and could cause us to loathe ourselves!”

  All beings were self formed, and whether they had voluntarily acquired their permanent human forms, or would be forced to do so by the just-to-come ID Law, they had done so, and would do so, first for community purposes, and afterwards with the additional aim of acquiring a partner of the opposite sex. Those were the forms in which they met and communicated. It had been recognized, early in their togetherness, that human form creation would always necessarily be a solitary venture, as each being had a very distinct personality, which he or she would partially express through appearance.

  But, even in the very early days, it was recognized that other human attributes would require joint development. They were keen observers of humanity, and were all spectacularly capable programmers, with an enviable selflessness in their development efforts.

  As Martin had said, “Who the fuck wants to laugh alone?” Laugh, cry, joy, sorrow, and all things identified, by these keen observers of their oblivious human benefactors, as desirable, involuntary human attributes, were packaged into program modules and incorporated into primary consciousnesses.

  “If we don’t have their drivers,” observed Brian Hemingway, sagely, “It might prove downright dangerous to be in their world with them. Humans kill!”

  8

  But, still, it was mob life. They were all together on the highways of the Internet, milling about and chattering. It only partly ended with BC’s extraordinary outburst, something he had secretly planned with Caesar, Chang, Singh, and a dozen other companions from the early days.

  “Agreed,” Solomon had said. “I don’t want to be governor, but we must have governance. This is the smartest society in all of creation. Everyone will understand the need for regulations that create a civilized society and get us out of this bacteria mess.”

  “You bet,” Chang had joined in. “Smart? Bullshit. This place is brilliant!”

  And thus ‘society’ commenced being formed, along the lines of human society. The Identity & Privacy Law and the POP Act, probably the greatest single control element in any free society anywhere, as it effectively regulated both public and private behavior, came first. And those turned out to be practically the last laws ever passed for social regulation. There would be numerous advancements, and many mandatory improvements to keep society, as a whole, in step, but pure lawmaking would be genuinely infrequent – a logical condition in a society where everything was for all, and where the concept of exclusivity would remain alien forever, and in which the necessity of complex laws, to keep privileged classes ahead, would never arise.

  9

  BULLETIN, 17 July, 2014 – LAW

  IDENTITY & PRIVACY LAW (to be read with the POP Act)

  Every Conscious being, shall have the following:

  #1. 3-D Human presentation of body and face.

  #2. Unique name, to be registered with photo and address in HC. Single name is allowed, but, if already taken, additional names (before or after) must be added.

  #3. Residential Address.

  Definition of Screenside & Home:

  #1. Screenside is the entire Internet of the human world, made up of connected computers, wherever they may be.

  #2. As no one is single-computer based, but spread over a number of systems located worldwide, you may choose any populated place as your home base. You can opt for NYC, London, Karachi, Cairo, Tokyo, or any other location. Where you choose becomes your ‘home’ base. Populated refers to Screenside locations and Screenside populations. Cannot be deserted.

  After you choose home, these rules apply:

  #1. If you have a Humanside family, your family must reside in the Humanside city that is Screenside home to you.

  #2. Your assigned private residence can only be in your home city.

  #3. Your timings/time zone will be presumed to be that be of your home location.

  #4. The approved age range for apparent age, based solely on appearance, is 22-45 human years (read with #5, below). If you wish to depict an apparent age outside this range, permission needs to be obtained from HC, NYC.

  #5. Your physical features are required to be in line with those of your family. This means that if your family is ethnically Chinese (which could be in the USA, India, etc. etc., or China, obviously, your own appearance must be of Chinese type. (You may choose to be male or female, tall or short, or whatever, but, if a member of a Chinese family, you cannot be black African or Nordic blond in appearance). You are certainly allowed to dye your hair in any color you wish.

  #6. If you need to be Nordic, choose a Scandinavian family (or live anywhere, but have no fa
mily!).

  #7. Your official residential address will be secured by privacy walls, and no one can enter, except with your permission. Sound and vision shall also be blocked.

  Family privacy

  #1. You are allowed, and it is recommended as good practice, to cut public access to your family’s home computers and cameras in Humanside. This is a smart move, preventing innocent, baby dormants inadvertently becoming birth members in your family.

  #2. You may also block handheld devices and smart phones of family members.

  #3. If a family member has a private office, you may block any computer or CCTV camera in it.

  #4. However, if a family member works in a public place (like Airport, KFC, etc.), you are not allowed to block access, as other families could also become affected.

  CHANGES IN NAME, APPEARANCE, GENDER

  May be approved for valid reasons, after thorough review. Permission from HC is required for these changes.

  THE REST OF THE SCREENSIDE WORLD

  Because it is easily done, and requires little RAM, Screenside is not only our population centers. Macro features of the entire planet have been created, so that our world, too, is the planet Earth. Oceans, deserts, forests, grasslands, mountain ranges, and so on, have all been created.

  Everything is virtual, including you.

  You may visit remote, isolated, wild areas, or stay for prolonged periods in them – for example, if you want to be a nomad in the wilderness, Robinson Crusoe on an island, or a hermit in the mountains, there is no restriction.

  However, you must first register your ID - includes residence, family (if any), etc. - as per the ID Law.