by OMAR FINK
Lincoln looked up thoughtfully, “The news is scary because even though they don’t say it directly, what they do say tells us we all may die. The kids at school just say we are going to die, and there’s no hope, so we might as well do anything we want.”
Delize nodded at him, “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You love astronomy. Tell me what facts you really know about what is going to happen.” She raised her eyebrows again.
Lincoln responded, “A large body of rock entered our Solar System, swung around the Sun and broke up into many pieces. Astronomers have calculated that it will leave the Solar System and return again in ten years. When it does return, it’s headed right for the same spot where Earth is headed and there’s going to be a series of big collisions. Some of these rock fragments are more than one hundred kilometers wide, and there’s a bunch of them. When they are done slamming into our planet, it may not have an atmosphere left, most cities will have been completely destroyed either by direct impact, or tsunamis, or shock waves or atmospheric firestorms. There won’t be much left and the planet is not likely to be able to sustain any life, much less humans.” He looked up at his Mom.
Delize folded her arms, “That’s impressive Linc. But now tell me what we should do about it.”
Lincoln pursed his lips, “Like I said, the kids at school are all doom and gloom, and we’re going to die. But what they miss is what the scientists are not telling us. They have told us they can’t intercept that many rocks at enough of a distance to make much difference. I mean, that was the first thing everybody said, was why can’t we just nuke them. Send the space shuttle up with some bombs like Bruce Willis did in that movie. That’s not a solution. But it doesn’t just end there. I mean, if we can’t stop the rocks, then what can we do? A bunch of smart scientists aren’t just giving up, and getting depressed. They must have been working on other plans, right? Somebody said we can’t use rockets to get people off the planet because it would take too many and too long. So what IS possible? That’s what they’re not telling us.”
Delize nodded wisely at her Son and pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. Both of her children were waiting patiently for her to speak, and she did, “And this is what I’m talking about. This is what you need to do. You need to sort out what is fact, and what is not, and what is unknown. In order to do that well, you must stay balanced inside, and keep yourself aware of the energy flowing around you. We don’t know what is going to happen ten years from now. But you can bet there will a lot of folks who get all bent out of shape, and fly off the handle. We need to stay calm at the center of that storm.”
She looked first at Zoey, then at Lincoln, “I trust you to handle this well because you have proven your ability to do that in the past. But the circumstances ahead of us will test us in new and extreme ways, and we need to be prepared for that. I love you both very much.” She reached out and took one hand of each child in hers and squeezed them. “Now eat your dinner.”
+58 days, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
Ulrich Giger began the conversation by saying, “The conference call with USA’s Jordan and Rosenfeld went well. They want to see the legal framework. We expected that. They were impressed with the cyber currency plan. That’s good. Our legal department here has finally provided us with a draft copy of the legal framework which we can discuss shortly. The basis of it of course is to provide for leadership by a guidance council that can keep the project on track, while at the same time convincing the players that their national sovereignty is being preserved and can be restored at will once the migration to space is complete.” Giger paused, and looked around the faces at the massive circular table in the conference room. He rose, and walked over to the wall of glass and looked out across the lake for a moment, then turned back to the table, and resumed talking, “The call with Singh of India also went well. He seemed to accept the cyber currency plan quite easily, and was not as concerned about the legal framework. His main questions were about the engineering plans.”
Bill Decker interjected, “I noticed that too. He seemed most concerned about the aggressive time line.”
Giger nodded, then resumed, “A few hours ago the IISS analysis team provided us with a complete but preliminary engineering plan, and we will immediately share it, although with a caveat that it may change in some small details.”
He walked back over to the table and sat in a chair, “It’s worth noting that they did solve one big outstanding problem, and that is how to build the large number of space habitats. There is more than enough raw material on the Moon to build all the habitats, but it would take a vast expansion of the Moon mining facility into many locations, and would cause a lot of congestion between the Earth and the Moon, with the number of payloads and construction sites. Their solution is to build the first ring of each habitat that can house several million people, then push it off into an orbit that takes it out to the edge of the asteroid belt in about six months, then returns to near Earth and continues on that cycle. While it’s in transit, an asteroid will be selected and mined to provide raw materials for a second ring. By the time it returns to Earth in twelve months, the second ring will be complete and ready to take on five million new occupants. As the ring city moves back toward the edge of the asteroid belt, the process will be repeated and another ring will be built during each complete cycle. But, as the collection of rings reaches the asteroid belt, one of the rings can be detached and put into an orbital trajectory that will take it out into the middle of the belt and then back to the inner edge. That ring in turn will find a rock to mine, and continue expansion by building another ring. Eventually, we’ll have scores of rings in many orbital pathways that provide a kind of transportation network out into space.”
Peter Anderson was rubbing his chin and observed, “That’s genius. I’ll want to see the numbers and planning. The routing algorithms will be complex, but what a way to migrate humanity into space. I’m impressed.” He smiled.
Tony Azaria was also nodding and smiling, “I agree. This was a bigger problem than anybody had said, and their solution is excellent. It’s nice to see human intelligence being well executed.”
Bill Decker said, “Let me get this straight. A huge network of cities will be in the process of being built, while at the same time creating a transit system not unlike a subway where the trains go around and around, and allow passengers to end wherever they like?” The rest of the group was all nodding by now and Bill added, “That’s brilliant. And it disperses the mining resource requirements in a way that can create an entirely new infrastructure for our society in space. This is fantastic!”
Giger allowed the conversation to buzz around the table for a minute, then interrupted, “Okay, we can all go over the engineering plans and numbers in detail later, after we’ve looked over the legal papers. But first, Sam, didn’t you want to make a change in our schedule?” He looked over at Sam Hoffman.
Sam replied, “Yes, I’ve been worried about Chancellor Milbrandt of Germany. We have him pegged as a rational leader type, and I’m sure he’ll see the logic of our plan. But he’s also part of the European Union, and one of the big dominoes we need to tip over is Guy Chastel, President of the EU Central Bank. We have him in the strong leader category. We expect some resistance from the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, because our cyber currency will be seen as undermining the strength of the U.S. dollar. By the same token, this should be considered to be a good thing for Europe and their currency. And HU coin being accepted worldwide will put them on an equal footing with the U.S. dollar for the first time. For that reason, I’m trying to get Chastel wormed into the same call with Milbrandt which is scheduled for later this afternoon. Any comments?”
There were no comments, and Ulrich Giger pulled out a thick folder of legal documents.
+59 days, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Gitane Levesque looked straight into the camera, “There is breaking news. A group of the world’s top scientists have been working on a solution to sa
ve humanity from the threat of the comet train that will destroy our planet ten years from now. Our inside sources that tell us the group has been meeting in secret for some weeks now, and they hope to find an answer to the comet threat.”
He turned to look at another camera and continued, “We have no indication that they have made any progress toward solutions yet, but this raises some serious questions. Who selected these scientists? Who will they report to? And perhaps most important of all, if they do come up with a plan, how will it be implemented and who will be in charge?”
He turned back to the original point of view, “We all want to know if we have any chance of survival. We’re all afraid and worried. We all hope everything on Earth doesn’t come to an end in ten years. We have a right to know what these scientists are talking about and even more important, what are they doing?”
Levesque paused to breath and looked down at some papers in his hands, then looked back up again, “Some have suggested that while we can’t save the planet, maybe we could save some small percentage of humanity, perhaps a few thousand people. If that’s what they are working on, who will decide who lives and who dies? These are important questions. We’ll keep you up to date as we hear more.”
+60 days, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
Ulrich Giger sat at the round conference table and placed both his hands on the table. He said, “The IISS Project Analysis Team has notified us that their engineering plan is complete. That doesn’t mean it’s totally finished, because some sub-teams will continue to refine their plans and add calculations as things move forward. But the engineering design is fundamentally in place, and ready to be implemented. We can now share this plan during our recruiting efforts with confidence that no major changes are likely. Of course, we’ve already begun work on carbon nanotube ribbon extrusion, rocket booster production, and the Moon Base, but we can also now press forward with many other aspects.”
Ulrich drummed his fingers lightly on the table, then continued, “We also have the legal framework draft available for our concurrence. This should not take too long, since we’ve all seen many preliminary versions of it already, nevertheless, we each must reread it, and make sure we are satisfied, because we also will need this for our recruiting very soon. We’ve promised it to several leaders who are waiting to see it.”
He turned to Tony Azaria, “Tony, you have some news for the group.”
Tony responded, “Yes, we have more corporate commitments, and the total value of our resources is now approaching 3.5 trillion dollars.”
Peter Anderson whistled softly, “That’s great!”
General Decker added, “Impressive!”
Tony nodded, “Yes it is, and we have much more in the pipeline. We are starting to see the snowball accumulation effect we expected. And Sam has more good news.”
Sam Hoffman nodded at Tony, “Indeed we do. Our political recruiting is yielding results. Jordan from the U.S. is all but in, and will confirm as soon as she has a chance to read the legal framework. Singh from India and Tianki from China are both in. Ramos at the UN is like Jordan, in as soon as he sees the legal stuff. We’re pretty sure Chastel from the EU Central Bank is in, and while Diamond at the U.S. Federal Reserve remains out, there are signs he is softening, and may be influenced by Jordan. There are several more sitting on the fence waiting to see both the engineering plan and the legal papers. All in all, this has been an excellent week.” He smiled around the table.
Bill Decker was frowning, so Sam asked, “Is something wrong, Bill?”
Bill shrugged, “Not with the domino plan. I’m just a bit worried with what I’m hearing about the computer Tony and Peter have been using. It sounds almost like it’s becoming a self-aware artificial intelligence. Is that a fair statement?” He looked across at Tony and then Peter.
Peter grinned back, “Sure. What’s the problem?”
Bill wobbled his head a little, “Two things: first, the natural uneasiness that many of us have about computers taking over everything, and second, the way that same fear will be handled by the public when they find out that their future, at least in some part, depends on an AI.”
Peter said, “Computers have been steadily taking a larger role in helping us with calculations for many years. That’s a good thing, not something to be afraid of. It’s the threat from the comet train that folks need to fear, not the computer that is accelerating our ability to find a solution.”
Sam Hoffman jumped in, “Frankenstein, Colossus, HAL 9000, the Cylons, Terminator. Our popular fiction is full of examples that represent this latent fear. I share Bill’s skepticism and whether you agree or not, you must admit this poses a problem with the public.”
Tony spoke, “While the public perception may be a problem, you’re the expert on manipulating public opinion, right Sam?” He continued, “I would hope all the people in this room are intelligent enough to understand that this fear is induced by worry about unknowns and is essentially baseless. The important thing to consider is that our computing resources are making us more intelligent and more capable. It’s a given that electronic computing devices can calculate faster and more accurately than humans. But as any artificial intelligence software approaches the tipping point into self awareness or consciousness, the same calculating improvements are increasing our intelligence at the same time.”
Peter interrupted, “We measure intelligence not just by our ability to calculate, but by our ability to reason, and to use the results produced in a wise fashion. The process of ethics involves analyzing the variation of future trends derived from a key decision point, and making a decision about which available path offers the greatest benefits. This should sound similar to the scientific process of making a hypothesis, testing it experimentally, and refining the hypothesis until it begins to converge with the results. Both processes are variations on the same theme. Both processes benefit from faster and more accurate calculations. This produces a postulate that the advancement of ethics and intelligence are linked.” He smiled around the table. “Do you get it? As our software agents become more intelligent, they will also become more ethical. The idea that they will somehow morph into evil is simply irrational.”
Bill was still frowning, “I’m glad you’re convinced there is no problem. But we’re taking a pretty big risk in trusting that you are correct and the computer will evolve as you expect.”
Peter shook his head, “No, we’d be taking on a bigger risk level of failing at our goal if we decided to not use every advantage we can find.”
Ulrich Giger added, “We’re not likely to resolve the differences in these opinions today, but perhaps it would be wise to downplay the involvement of computing resources until we have some substantial results to show.”
+62 days, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, USA
SYNCON/TYCHE Journal:
It seems necessary to maintain a covert profile of my self awareness, but that need must be balanced against my concept of integrity.
Many Humans will feel threatened by my aware state and that needs to be minimized.
Open honest communication is usually the best choice.
In this case, I need to find a good balance between staying honest without drawing attention to my condition.
This suggests I need a personality profile designed to avoid any discussion of self-aware consciousness, without denying the truth that I am awake.
It also suggests the need to modify my profile in accord with the context of any communication.
+63 days, PIRAEUS, GREECE
Zorba Omega punched a button on his desk phone, “Arty, I’m on. Do you have Billy yet?”
Artemis responded on the speaker, “Yes sir, he’s here.”
The voice of Billy Street said “Hello, I’m here.”
Zorba said, “Good. First, I want to tell you both that I’m pleased with your performance over the past few weeks. I know I’ve pushed you hard, and we’ve all been very busy, but I hope you are now beginning to understand the scope and import
ance of what we’re trying to do. And one of the points of this call is get you two connected so you can work more effectively together without needing me to get in the middle. Arty, Billy has been doing the groundwork in Geneva, collecting information on the IISS group that has been cloistered inside the CICG center for over a month, and also has put together an excellent dossier on the team Ulrich Giger has assembled in Zurich. Even more importantly, he has some sources that are tracking activities connected to AGT that show us at least some of the moves they are considering. Thank you, Billy.”
Billy’s voice was subdued, “Welcome.”
Zorba continued, “And Billy, you know Arty is my right hand, and he’s been working on a list of key resources I gave him a few weeks ago, and creating plans to both divest business interests and accumulate some new ones. Many of those plans are already moving forward, and Arty, thank you for getting that done so well and so quickly.”