Direction
Chapter 7
White
House
Washington DC
2040
Looking through VR goggles, President Amanda Kelly surveyed the people in the virtual conference room. Rather, she reminded herself, she was looking at the computer generated 3D images of real people who were actually several thousand miles apart.
"Thank
you for your attendance on short notice, everyone. We find ourselves
in a precarious and urgent situation. We have what is called a 'black swan' event. Black swan events are those that can not be expected, particularly if the event is unusual in it's nature. Among the many factors that can initiate black swan events, human ingenuity is most commonplace. Ingenuity is something we should be able to handle well. But can we?
"Before we continue, please be advised that senior staff and officers may be remotely monitoring this conversation." Kelly turned toward the man to her virtual left.
"Admiral Johnson, is the drone operations squadron able to hold their position for up to half an hour?"
"All but the cargo rocket, ma'am. For a half hour wait, it would be best to return the cargo rocket to the ship for refueling, then re-embark when the mission continues. Flight time is about three minutes, plus two minutes for launch procedures."
"Make is so, Admiral."
Speaking to someone who was not present in virtual reality, Johnson issued the appropriate commends.
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Beside the admiral sat his twin brother. President Kelly asked, "General Johnson, what is the status of our orbital cyber-systems?"
"Cyber-systems status is nominal at this time, Dr. President."
"Thank you, General. Please notify me immediately if there is any discrepancy, no matte how small or inconsequential."
Speaking to someone who was not present in virtual reality, Johnson issued the appropriate commends.
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"General Fields, were you and Zoey able to perform the inspection I asked about?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Thank you. Sincerely. I won't pretend to understand what it is you do on that farm of yours, Shenandoah Fields, but please know that my prayers are with you."
Tremendous admiration welled up in Amanda Kelly's heart for this woman who had gone from picking onions as a kid, to being one of the most advanced technologists in the world! Amazing.
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One more VR attendee was present. "Do you have a humanoid body that you can use, AI Zoey?"
"Yes Dr. President. When using it, I am identical to the image you see now."
"Excellent. As a physical entity, Zoey, are you able to travel on a passenger rocket, and work from a space station for perhaps two weeks?"
"Yes ma'am. In human-form, my physical abilities and limitations are similar to those of most people."
Dr. Kelly tried to assimilate the notion of a robot comparing itself to a person. "Please forgive my ignorance if it sounds rude, Zoey. As you will soon perceive, there is a reason I am asking about this.
"Concerning an upcoming mission, the question arose about whether your experience of embodiment is similar to that of a human. Or if the experience of projecting into the synthiverse is, for a human, similar to the experience of being an AI. In other words, how similar or different are the experiences of emulating an AI, and of emulating a human being?"
"How would anyone know if they had not experienced both, ma'am?"
"Perhaps we shall find out. There is a mission coming up for which you may be a viable candidate. We will be in touch with you and General Fields during the upcoming few days regarding the opportunity."
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"Okay, everyone. Up to this point was the first part of the mission. There will be several more phases, which we will discuss in a moment." Looking at the Johnson twins, the president spoke carefully.
"As everyone present knows, the security of our nation is a concern and a reality in cyberspace. The so-called synthiverse is a multi-media platform upon which multi-media breaches of security can and do occur. For our purposes we can defined multi-media to include not just social media, but also banking transactions and records, company intra-networks, medical databases, and so much more." Drawing a breath, Kelly continued.
"Just a year ago a cyber attack against a trucking company caused shortages of key commodities. Subsequently, the interruption to commercial transportation adversely affected a dozen other industries. In turn, thousands of people went without life essentials, including medical care and basic nutrition." She paused for a sip of water.
"We have highly advanced technologies safeguarding our nation's electronic domains. Artificial Intelligences constantly monitor our network security. Then how did that cyber attack happen?! Because of human ingenuity. Because people are able to think in ways that even the most advanced computer systems cannot predict. In some cases, the electronic systems do not even recognize that there has been a breech.
"The senior members or our government generally concur that further steps must be taken to further safeguard the commercial enterprises of our nation. However, analysis of the challenges we may face revealed that the element of human ingenuity tends to introduce unforeseeable factors." Dr. Kelly paused, allowing her listeners to process the concept.
"A contract was awarded to a US company to explore solutions for the defense of our data networks, from the element of human ingenuity. The current rescue mission may be linked to that contract. We shall find out in a moment.
"The CEO of that company will join be joining us now. I believe all of you are familiar with the senior executive of Tupper Systems Research and Development Corporation?"
Dramatically fading into view in what had been an empty chair, appeared the man in the office who had insisted on making a phone call. There before them, in VR form, sat Jack 'Kingsnake' Tupper.
Both Johnson brothers sat bolt upright at the sight of their high school rival. The two men issued glares that might have rivaled military laser weapons.
Peripherally, Amanda Kelly noted the crooked grin on Shenandoah's gentle round face. Apparently Fields and Tupper had gotten along well as colleagues at DARPA. Excellent, because they will be working together again soon.
To the Johnson brothers, Kelly boss'splained, "Gentlemen, I trust there is no need to remind you of your status as ranking officers in the United States military services. I expect professionalism to overcome any personal sentiments that may have accumulated at another place and time." Her command presence snapped both officers to attention.
Tactfully, Tupper wore a blank expression and kept his mouth shut.
"Dr. Tupper, would you please describe from your perspective what the news agencies are calling an 'AI Strike'?"
"Certainly, Dr. President. First, the purpose is to provide a harmless surprise element for the rescue mission that the Navy is engaged in at this time." Tupper ignored the renewed laser attack from Admiral Johnson's eyes. "To affect the 'strike', we simply issued an emergency vehicle override. That's a publicly mandated feature that is built into all automated vehicles today. Basically, it clears the main roads and flight paths for emergency vehicles. Unfortunately, because the feature was developed across time and distance, a number of different and unforeeseable behaviors result. Pandemonium ensues. Military vehicles have similar functions, but with different responses and the encrypted remote control signal is on a different frequency. However it is important to know that military systems have also been developed over time. Similar pandemonium could result if combined international forces were to encounter such an emergency command. We don't really know what would happen."
"Thank you, Jack.", the president said. "Hence our current position. The element of human ingenuity, amplified by the confusion of the emergency response behaviors of the cars and 'bots, has created a challenge that will require ingenuity to solve."
Softening her voice, Kelly spoke to the AI. "Changing tracks for a moment, Zoey, would you please describe in simple terms what you believe to be the primary differences and similarities between biological and computerized thinking?"
"Simple terms?!" The smartest entity in the virtual room wore a distressed look on her face. "Counter-intuitively, the fields of Artificial- and Biological-Intelligence have found remarkable amounts of common ground. Even creativity has been actualized in silicon-based entities, including myself. What remains as a primary difference is extents of abstract versus logical thought that each type of cognitive system can perform. Biological systems are better with complex abstractions, while silicon systems are better with complex logical analyses. Ideally, a system should utilize both biological and manufactured cognitive systemologies. That is my opinion, ma'am. Others have different thoughts on the subject." Satisfied with it's answer, the manufactured person sat back in it's virtual chair.
As the meeting adjourned, the president set her VR headset on the conference table.
----o----
Looking around the conference table in real-space, President Kelly kept her facial expression neutral. "Comments?", she asked the group as the attendees set aside their own VR headsets.
Secretary of Defense looked concerned, while Sec.State seemed hopeful.
An aide entered the room, passed a note to the president, and left.
"It would seem there is a new twist to be considered. Someone video'd our military drones up close, and posted it on social media. People, our top secret mission is now in the public domain."
----o----o----
Dempsey
Residence
St. Helens, Oregon
2040
"What the heck?!" Paul stepped closer to his wife's computer, while she watched a video on social media. He asked, "Can you pause that, and go back about five seconds?" She did.
There it was, in gold-stylized letters. "TS ", printed on the side of a drone in the video. "Score! Send me that link, dear. It might give us a tip about that Jewelry Store robbery. Probably not, but sometimes long-shots pay off. Thanks, hon."
Dempsey wondered if maybe that crazy cat lady at the pub knows more than she said. Maybe she's not as crazy as she sounded.
----o----o----
© Copyright: Jan Zenith, 2023
