by Unknown
At last I reached the comfort of the gel chair in my office. I put on my display goggles to help block out the image of my ranting boss and logged onto the system. Something had gone wrong, but I didn’t have time to track it down. In my youth I had read papers on the potential danger of technology. Many late nights in college, my classmates and I had debated the subject. Each of us had explained in detail how we would avoid such pitfalls. My plan had been to create a kill switch, or in the case of software, a virtual kill switch.
The Geno Entertainment logo floated on my display goggles just behind a command prompt. I spoke the word, “Kill” into the voice recognition program I had coded. The word appeared on the display before being replaced by a request for password. After speaking the password, I pulled up the diagnostics screen which monitored all activity across the neural network. I expected to see a complete system halt; instead, everything continued to run as normal. Twice before I had tested the kill command. Both times it executed perfectly. This time it didn’t.
Quickly I surveyed the list of ongoing tasks. Batch 332.204.130 caught my attention. It was the same batch that had just executed in the test lab. Again I issued the kill command. Nothing happened. I pulled up the batch details and to my horror discovered it was being broadcast via satellite to the entire beta group. I took a deep breath and calmed myself, thinking that perhaps the stress had altered the pitch in my voice.
Again I said, “Kill.” Nothing. I ripped the goggles from my head and leaped from my chair, screaming, “Pull the power. The power. Turn it off. Turn the system off.” It took fifteen minutes for the building to go black.
By then it was too late; the batch had already executed. Our neural network transmitted the virtual game environment through radio frequency to the NanoTag of the test subjects, where low level current pulses were emitted into specific regions of the brain to simulate sensory input. Somehow the current reached the wrong portion of the brain, causing prolonged seizures followed by death. Three million dead. I’m glad Maria wasn’t alive to see this.
As your investigation has no doubt revealed, Dr. Branner immediately fired me before wiping the entire Geno LAN and contacting the authorities. Understandably it took time for you to authenticate her claims, at which time you picked me up. I spent the intervening forty-three hours trying to discover what went wrong.
Simply put—we achieved singularity. The Geno Virus contains millions and millions of modules, which at some point ceased being individual pieces and became a whole. More significantly the module count continues to grow beyond our attempts to confine it. By instinct, if you will, it creates modules in response to nearly any and all input it receives. This singularity functions as you or I do. It works towards a goal using all of its experience, and when it receives new input or has a new experience, it evaluates all possible responses before selecting the most fit. The goal? I would guess the goal remains to create a virtual game environment.
No, I wouldn’t classify it as conscious; although, it does have a fundamental awareness of itself. It constantly monitors for any possible hindrance such as malicious software or hardware failure. I also feel it has as much unity of thought as we do. That is, while you sit here, you experience the temperature of the room, the sounds, the sights, the tactile information, your growling stomach, all at nearly the same instant. All of your senses are unified in your experience of this moment. The Geno Virus is no different.
It also exhibits qualitativeness. This room smells like my office, or this coffee tastes burnt. A rose is not music. All of these are comparisons of the qualities of one thing against the entirety of your knowledge base, drawing parallels in order to classify and better understand the input. The Geno Virus can easily qualify the input it receives against previous data to categorize the input and create an appropriate response.
Subjectivity remains trickier, but in creating the self-evolving modules, I have provided rules for decision making and evaluation of the best response. If forced to choose a favorite color, it will analyze the qualities of each color before choosing the best candidate. At the end of the process, if it cannot distinguish the best fit, it will randomly select a solution from a list of possibilities. From that point forward, the selected color will be its favorite.
Some might suggest that since the Geno Virus possesses all of these characteristics, even in some rudimentary form, that it is conscious. Again, I say no. While it may be an artificial intellect, or an Artilect, it is not conscious. I propose that true consciousness requires a soul or a mind.
For example, you might feel like eating pizza for lunch or feel like going to the park. Where do those feelings come from? I argue the state of feeling is an output of the mind. An Artilect could evaluate pizza against an array of all other food choices. It could assign weights to each food in order to determine a favorite. It could even randomly select which food it will eat today and which food tomorrow. Never once will it feel like eating anything. It will simply make a calculated, dispassionate selection.
Yes, the Geno Virus could mimic rage in a method indistinguishable from human emotion, but it will never feel rage. It cannot experience the love I had for my first wife. It will not feel sorrow for those it killed. It is artificially intelligent, but not conscious.
The point is that right now the Geno Virus is operating autonomously. Already it has evolved modules that proved deadly, and I no longer have any way of determining if those modules are still active. It may have evaluated them as unfit since the results proved destructive to what it would consider the target hardware platform. Why can’t I tell? Because the neural network has distributed itself across the globe.
Each one of the approximately twenty billion computers capable of connecting in some fashion to the Net is a potential host. The global network is like a giant brain, except this brain is expanding. Every day new computers are connected. Every day it creates perhaps millions of new modules. By now its redundancy is immeasurable; self-preservation forces it to duplicate. Its senses are anything and everything it can access: cameras, satellites, phones, keypads, microphones. It outputs to any and all electronic devices: robots, speakers, smart systems, autos. It has no limit.
Sign a confession? Sure, I’ll sign whatever you want, but that’s the least of our worries. You still don’t get it. We’re standing on the brink of human extinction, right here, right now. While we argue over guilt, the Geno Virus has reached critical mass; it’s in a runaway condition. In the next few hours it will infect every networked system, every NanoTag, every satellite. We can’t stop it.
Turn off your computer now. That annoying virus on your system isn’t stealing your financial information. It’s ushering in our destruction.
An EMP won’t work; ninety percent of systems have electromagnetic shielding. The best we can hope for is global shutdown, a permanent shutdown, but even that can’t stop it. Satellites run on solar power; we’ll have to blast them out of orbit. The NanoTag. I have no idea how to scrub the NanoTag. The only thing preventing you from becoming infected right now is the RF inhibitor built into this station.
Once you’re infected, it’s over. The Geno Virus creates a virtual game environment which completely replaces all other sensory input. Your reality becomes what the virus has created. Some might say that makes it a virtual god, but since I made the god, what does that make me? In truth, the Geno Virus can only destroy life not create it. If it doesn’t kill you by mistake, eventually you’ll starve to death eating virtual food. The lucky ones might just go insane. Sure, it might not happen that way, but three million already lie dead. Should we wait until that number reaches three billion?
Throughout history we’ve talked about the road to the future, but I see the future as more of a maze. We rushed forward into the maze thinking the path we were on was the only way, but look around us. We’ve reached a dead end. Our only way forward is by going back. The only question now is how far back.
If our race survives this event, it will be withou
t a global network, without smart-houses, without smart-weapons, without robots. All the technology that we’ve leaned on has turned to poison. The atomic bomb was easy. Humans just learned not to use it. The Geno Virus will grow a new reality—a reality we can’t switch off. Since I have no NanoTag, I am certain that what I sense is real, but from the look on your partner’s face, it might already be too late for him. It must have infected your LAN. You need to shut it down right now. Too late—your eyes are glazing over. Godspeed in your new reality. I’ll say a prayer for you.
As for me, I have much work to do. I’m standing alone in this reality, looking for the trail back. Back somewhere stable, somewhere safe. Lord, help me.
Copyright © 2014 by R. K. Troughton. All Rights Reserved.
Originally an Honorable Mention recipient of the Writers of the Future Award and published in 2012.
Artwork Copyright © 2014 by Derek Benson. All Rights Reserved.
Behind the Scenes
For just a few months more than a year now, a large group of individuals has been working daily to help bring Amazing Stories back as a regular fiction publication.
We would not be here at this moment if it were not for their enthusiasm, contributions, advice and assistance. So please take a moment to take notice of their labors, their unstinting commitment to our shared project and their contributions:
Site Designer: Kermit Woodall
Reviews Editor Ricky L. Brown
Spanish Language Editor: Tanya Tynjala
Art Director: Duncan Long
Photographer: David Decker
Blog Editors: Michelle Bradbury & Rachel Isaacs
Artists: Bob Bello, Daniel Brandt, David A. Hardy, Jeremy McHugh, Derek Benson, Frank Wu
Advertising Sales: Judith K. Dial
Blog Team: Ricardo Acevedo Esplugas, Alma Alexander, B. Morris Allen, Karen G. Anderson, Tom Auxier, FJ Bergmann, Mike Brotherton, Michael A. Burstein, R. Graeme Cameron, M. C. Carper, Cenobyte, Luis Cermeno, Zachary Clemente, Jack Clemons, Cait Coker, Piere V. Comtois, Johne Cook, Paul Cook, Sam Costello, Gary Dalkin, John Dodds, Jack Dowden, Douglas Draa, Robin Dunn, Steve Fahnestalk, Jane Frank, Adria K. Fraser, Fran Friel, Adam Gaffen, Chris Garcia, Dianne Lynne Gardner, Chris Gerwel, Susan Gray, Kristina Grifantini, Nathan Hall, Tommy Hancock, Liz Henderson, Samantha Henry, Joshua S. Hill, Jack Hillman, SciFi4Me (Jason Hunt), Mark Isles, M. D. Jackson, Terence Jackson, Monique Jacob, Geoffrey James, Patty Jansen, Matt Johnson, Madeline Johnston, J. Jay Jones, Juliet Kahn, Alex Kane, Earl Terry Kemp, David Kilman, Daniel M. Kimmel, Robert J. Koenn, Peggy Kolm, Hunter Liguore, . Bob Lock, Steven M. Long, Buddie Lortie, Melissa Lowery, Fabien Lyraud, Barry Malzberg, Ricardo Manzanaro Arana, C. E. Martin, Travis Mataya, Farrel J. McGovern, Gene Mierzejewski, Steve Miller, Petrea Mitchell, Matt Mitrovich, Aidan Moher, Nina Munteanu, Kevin Murray, Ro Nagey, Ira Nayman, Ken Neth, D. Nicklin-Dunbar, Astrid Nielsch, Christopher Nuttall, Kyle Owenby, Patrick L Price, James Palmer, David Perez Marulanda, Duane Pesice, Laura Ponce, Ivan Prado Sejas, John Purcell, James Rogers, Norman L. Rubenstein, Daniel Salvo, Cedar Sanderson, Morgana Santili, Alastair Savage, Felicity Savage, Diane Severson, Carol Shetler, John Siebelink, Steven H Silver, Robert Silverberg, J. Simpson, Darren Slade, Douglas Smith, Lesley Smith, Bill Spangler, Duane Spurlock, JM Stine, Ann Stolinksy, Michael J. Sullivan, Susana Sussmann, G. W. Thomas, R. K. Troughton, Erin Underwood, Stephan Van Velzen, G. Wakeling, Cynthia Ward, Michael Webb, James Weber, Keith West, Andrew P. Weston, John M. Whalen, Ted White, Gwen Whiting, K. Ceres Wright, Joseph Wrzos, Karlo Yeager, Galaviz Yeverino, Leah A. Zeldes, Andrew Zimmerman Jones
You can learn more about each individual and find their blog entries by visiting the Staff page of our website and the associated Suspended Animation page for those who have contributed but are not participating currently.
Contributors
This issue of Amazing Stories received contributions from the following fine authors and artists:
Frank Wu (Cover Illustration) is an unrepentant artist, dreamer and spaceship designer, living in Boston with his lovely wife Brianna and their two insane Bichons, Crash and Kablam. During the day, Frank toils in the patent mines, drafting patents on siRNAs, antibodies and small polypeptides. And at night, his mind wanders unfettered through the galaxy, picking fights with giant monsters and building atomic cannons to defend the Earth. Various images and words that have fallen out of his brain have been published in different venues, blah blah blah, and won some awards, blah blah blah, but that’s all water under the bridge now. Right now he’s finishing up work on the videogame “Revolution 60” (written and directed by Brianna), creating a vast world of armored personnel carriers, fighter-attack spaceships and space stations full of Sekrit Science Experiments—a playground for our crack, all-female team of agents to run around in, knocking out Bad Guys and blowing stuff up. He also gets to write the Technical Manual for the videogame, which means justifying his crazy spaceship designs with made-up science about weapons-laden sponsons, negative gravitons, mind-controlling nanobots, and black-hole-powered engines. Because: if you can’t have crazy-awesome spaceships, why are we even doing this? Frank Wu
Jean Marie Stine (Classic Reprint Selection and Introduction) is currently Publisher of FuturesPast Editions, which issues off-trail science fiction, fantasy and horror in ebook and paperback. She is the author of the novel Season of the Witch which mixed futurism, transgender issues and erotica. The editors of Science Fiction Review called the book, “One of the 30 Most Important SF Novels of the decade.” As an anthologist she has edited Future Eves: Great Science Fiction About Women By Women; Time Enough at Last!: Stories that Inspired Classic Episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Tales of Tomorrow and Other Vintage SF Television Series; and The Legendary Women Detectives, among others. She has been a science fiction and fantasy editor for Galaxy magazine, Starblaze Editions, and Dorchester Publishing. Her novels include A Day in the Life (The Prisoner #3), one of the three original novels commissioned by Ace Books for the iconic tv series. A recent collection, Herstory & Other Science Fictions, rounds up JM’s sf/f/h shorts and novelettes. During the second and third seasons of the original Star Trek, she worked for Gene Roddenberry on special projects.
Douglas Smith (Spirit Dance) is an award-winning Canadian author whose work has been published in thirty countries and twenty-five languages. His works include the recent urban fantasy novel, The Wolf at the End of the World, and the collections Chimerascope, Impossibilia, and La Danse des Esprits. Doug is a three-time winner of Canada's Aurora Award, and has been a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award, CBC's Bookies Award, Canada's juried Sunburst Award, and France's juried Prix Masterton and Prix Bob Morane. His website is smithwriter.com, and he tweets at twitter.com/smithwritr.
John A. Purcell (Customer Service) lives in College Station, Texas with his wife and a veritable petting zoo. He is a professor of English and ESL at Blinn College, plays guitar, and publishes the fanzines ASKANCE and ASKEW. His story “Customer Service” first appeared in the online magazine PLANETARY STORIES #18 in 2010.
Michael A. Burstein, (Cosmic Corkscrew) winner of the 1997 Campbell Award for Best New Writer, has earned ten Hugo nominations and four Nebula nominations for his short fiction, collected in I Remember the Future. Burstein lives with his wife Nomi and their twin daughters in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, where he is an elected Town Meeting Member and Library Trustee. When not writing, he edits middle and high school Science textbooks. He has two degrees in Physics and attended the Clarion Workshop. More information on Burstein and his work can be found on his webpage, www.mabfan.com.
Duncan Long (Lightning War) (Interior Illustrations) is a writer/ illustrator who has authored nearly 100 books including 13 science-fiction and action-adventure novels (published by Avon Books and HarperCollins), and over 80 technical and how-to manuals (Lyons Press, Paladin Press, etc.), most of which he also illustrated. As an artist, he has created over a thousand cover and interior illustrations for Ha
rperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, and many other presses and self-publishing authors. Long currently serves as Amazing Stories art director. You can learn more about him at http://DuncanLong.com.
Nina Munteanu (Virtually Yours) is a Canadian ecologist and internationally published novelist of science fiction and fantasy. In addition to eight published novels, Nina has written award-nominated short stories, articles and non-fiction books, which have been translated into several languages throughout the world. She is currently an editor of Europa SF, a zine dedicated to informing the European SF community, and writes for Amazing Stories. Nina shares her time between Toronto and Vancouver, Canada and currently teaches writing at the University of Toronto and George Brown College.
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Jack Clemons (Tool Dresser's Law) has a B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida. He was an engineer and manager on NASA's Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs, and later an executive on the team that designed air traffic control systems for the United States and the United Kingdom. Jack is a published author and member of SFWA. His non-fiction, short fiction and science fiction have appeared in numerous magazines, books and anthologies. He also appeared in the "Command Module" segment of Discovery Science Channel's award winning six-part documentary "Moon Machines". He currently writes a bi-weekly space and science blog for Amazing Stories Online Magazine.