Six months passed since the earthquake. Priya and her friends gathered for their weekly meeting at Priya’s office complex in Palo Alto. Life was getting back to normal. Amy now worked in the algorithms branch of Raven’s company, specializing in AI decision interfaces.

“Do you know what today is?” Raven said.

“What?” Priya said.

“Today, the oldest new species kids turn seven years old.”

“I hear they finished a series of standardized tests in several US states and some countries,” Amy said.

“Yes,” Raven said. “I read the report yesterday. There are over 130 million of them now. As we know, they’re mentally developing quickly. A normal child of that age would be entering second grade, but they’re testing in most subjects between the fourth and the eighth grade. About 5% of them are prodigies in specific areas. Several are ranked as grandmasters in chess. Overall, they’re far above average in most subjects compared to an old species child of the same age. The lowest scoring kids have Stanford Binet IQs around 140, which is the low range for what is called a genius.”

“How are they doing physically?” Priya said.

Raven scanned the story again.

“They’re continuing to develop at a slower rate compared to old species children of their age. The seven-year-olds appear more like healthy four or five-year-olds. Most childhood diseases are absent. They play well together and don’t get into fights as frequently as old species children at the same age. Occasionally they do, but it’s rare.”

“How are they getting along with old species kids?” Sophie said.

“Not well in many cases. They’re often subject to ridicule. Not always. Some old species kids like playing with them. It depends on the kid, but they’re too small to play with old species kids their age. And they’re too intelligent to play with old species kids their age. Mostly, not always. There is some overlap.”

“I hear one of them is doing a biotech start up,” Priya said.

“At age seven?” Pablo said. “We’re going to have competition soon.”

“Please don’t let them be lawyers.” Sophie said.

“Hey, we’re going to need all the help we can get,” Pablo said. “What’s wrong with lawyers?”

“They’re lawyers.” Sophie said, grinning widely.

“I’m worried,” Priya said. “This will be a lengthy battle.”

“Yeah. Not only are we battling old species intentions, but we also have to watch out for their mistakes,” Raven said.

“What do you mean?” Priya said.

“Didn’t you hear? Some old species guy in India was experimenting with a species of Klebsiella flesh eating bacteria in his spare bedroom. He edited something on chromosome two, I’m not sure what, but it escaped containment and has infected thousands of people in his hometown. He was trying to get the bacteria to consume only brain tumors. Like Ian, but it turns out it eats all portions of the brain and ignores all other tissue. It lies dormant in the rest of the body. So, you don’t know you have it until your brain turns to mush. It starts with Alzheimer-like symptoms of forgetfulness and dementia. Within a couple of days, the patient is dead. It spreads like influenza.”

“How do they contain it?” Priya said.

“The entire city is under quarantine,” Raven said. “Then there’s the Japanese robot disaster.”

“What disaster? Where do you hear about all these things?” Sophie said.

“It’s been in the news over the weekend. Haven’t you been reading?” Raven said.

“No, we’ve been working on our stem cell generator,” Priya said. “It’s almost done. We told you about it. We’ll be able to generate any type of stem cell by taking a small skin sample. Each type of stem cell requires a distinct set of modifications. We’ll be releasing instructions for the most popular 100 stem cell requests in a couple of weeks. Each one requires FDA approval. We only have a few left. The results are stable.”

“Congratulations!” Amy said. “You’ve been working on that for a long time now.”

“Thanks. Now, what about the Japanese robots?” Sophie said.

“A class of childcare robots suddenly for no reason began protecting children from their own parents.”

“What? That’s crazy,” Pablo said. “That sounds like a lawsuit in the making.”

“Yeah, the robot maker is in a lot of legal trouble.  Thousands of them began fighting the parents while trying to protect the children. They produced electric shocks and other countermeasures to protect the children. A software patch was issued and they’re not doing it anymore.”

“It seems the world is becoming a more dangerous place,” Priya said. “Remember the guy who genetically engineered the Ebola virus to infect and kill only Kurdish people?”

“Yeah,” Raven said. “It’s impossible to stop these people when they’re working in their own houses.”

“And the guys who tried to exterminate you,” Amy said.

“True. The Omanji are right about having everyone connected like we are,” Priya said. “All 25,000 of us knew we were developing a virus to make old species people sick (but only sick) as a way of defending ourselves. If I wanted to kill large numbers of people, and I were not connected, I could do anything I wanted, but what about the new species kids? They won’t be connected.”

“Yeah, but they seem like nice kids,” Sophie said. “They’re smart and well-adjusted.”

“Yes, but all it takes is a few bad ones to ruin the world,” Sophie said. “With technology these days, anyone can ruin the world.”

“We’ll have to make laws against those sorts of behaviors,” Pablo said.

“How can you prevent people from doing things in their own homes?” Sophie said. “Some guy makes a virus that kills everyone, but it’s against the law? That doesn’t help when everyone is dead.”

“Point taken,” Pablo said.

“We need to come up with a way where destructive events can be prevented ahead of time, yet people still have their rights.” Raven said.

“We’re getting to that era of mass extinctions Bok warned us about,” Priya said.

“Anyone at any time could put an end to all of us without even knowing it,” Raven said.

“We need to talk to Bok,” Priya said.

An hour later they connected to Bok on their silent private network via their implants.

“Hello everyone, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Bok thought.

“You’re so polite,” Priya thought.

“I’ve done more research into human customs.”

“You do good research,” Priya thought. “As a matter of fact, that’s what we want to talk with you about. Research. We’ve noticed a trend among old species humans where scientific experiments are becoming more dangerous. We’re afraid that at some point, something is going to happen that could lead to our extinction or at least a major disaster. The cause could be from genetically altered organic life, or artificial intelligence, or something. It could be intentional or by accident. The more we discover how things work, the more dangerous the discoveries become. You warned us about this, but now we get it.”

“You’re reaching the inflection point. It’s that place on the ascending curve of technological knowledge where it sharply goes up, leading to unexpected and increasingly dangerous results.”

“Yeah, like going extinct.” Raven thought.

“That’s one possible outcome,” Bok thought.

“Um, we don’t want that outcome.” Pablo thought.

“I agree, that would be regrettable,” Bok thought.

“I think you need to do more research on human customs,” Priya thought. “Human extinction is a lot more than just regrettable.”

“I’ve been monitoring your actions,” Bok thought. “I believe you want the old human species to go extinct.”

“It’s not like that,” Priya thought. “I want some human behaviors and traits to go extinct. I want ignorance, superstition, stupidity, and hatred to go extinct. The new species has less of that than the old species.”

“I see,” Bok thought.

“We’re worried that humans and maybe all life on Earth could go extinct because of an accident.” Priya thought. “Even the members of your colony might get wiped out by a human accident.”

“We’re concerned too. We know the day is drawing closer,” Bok thought.

“How close?” Priya’s thought.

“A local major impact event could happen at any time. A major planetary impact event could happen starting within 2 to 5 years at the current rate of technological advancement.”

“We’ve had some close calls already,” Raven thought.

“Yes Raven, you almost caused one. Your group of 25,000 would be more dangerous than all old species humans at this point, but you’re connected, which lowers the risk.”

“We learned our lesson,” Raven thought.

“But we’re worried the old species won’t learn the lessons, and countries won’t agree on what to do about it,” Priya thought.

“That is a grave concern,” Bok thought.

“We need your help,” Priya thought.

“I know, but we don’t want to interfere. We’ve already done enough of that.”

“You’ve set us on this path,” Priya thought.

“Most of the problems we’ve observed lately originated from the old species,” Bok thought. “But I agree in the future the new species will invent dangerous things.”

“What can we do?” Priya thought.

“More oversight will be needed.”

“People won’t agree to that. We like being free,” Raven thought.

“Yes, but you have regulations regarding new drugs and other technologies. You agree to those rules. You must extend their reach in a firmer manner.”

“I don’t see that happening,” Raven thought. “I don’t like ‘Big Brother’ looking over my shoulder while I’m working.”

“Big Brother? Oh, I see. Unfortunately, you need to get over this feeling. Otherwise, unintended consequences of technology will cause a mass extinction.”

“I don’t know if we can get used to that,” Priya thought.

“I’ve studied your history,” Bok thought. “Could you imagine people from 400 years ago living in a densely populated modern city with skyscrapers? Would they feel comfortable driving at high speeds in self piloting vehicles with thousands of others nearby? Could they fly in the air in thin metal tubes? Could they imagine getting used to communicating with small devices over invisible airwaves?”

“OK, we’re adaptable, but those changes happened gradually. Now we’re talking about major societal changes happening within a few years. How can billions of people with old school sensibilities about personal freedom and individuality, developed over centuries, suddenly adapt to a huge amount of oversight from governments they don’t trust?”

“We did it, and so can you,” Bok thought.

“Yes, but you had seven eras of entropy over a 50,000-year period where are you almost went extinct more than once. We want to avoid that,” Priya thought.

“I hope you can, but that’s part of the evolution of an advanced species. You must pass through this phase. If we do it for you, you won’t appreciate what it takes to evolve. Then you’ll go extinct anyway.”

“We have a history of closing the barn doors after the horses have escaped,” Priya thought.

“Processing. I see. You’re afraid people won’t act until it’s too late.”

“Yes”

“Your species needs to learn when to close the doors exactly at the moment the horses think of leaving but keep them open otherwise. If you don’t, you’ll go extinct, as we’ve observed on other planets. We discussed our findings with you earlier. Do you remember?”

“Yes,” Priya thought. “In our local galactic neighborhood, only the Omanji made it through the inflection point. Barely. You discovered other species that didn’t make it. One resulted in that singleton that’s monitoring us right now.”

“We made it by connecting with each other. Your species will hopefully find your own way.”

“Can’t you help us?” Sophie thought.

“Not without enslaving you and forcing you to behave as we deem necessary. If we set down the necessary rules for your survival, do you think humans will abide by them if we don’t enforce them?”

“No,” Priya thought. “Getting people to agree to anything is like herding cats. Everyone goes in their own direction. I see what you mean. We have to figure this out on our own.”

“Yes. We won’t let you destroy the planet because we live on it too, but we can’t stop your society from collapsing due to a lack of cooperation about how it plays with its newfound toys. Have I answered your questions?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Priya thought. “We need to save ourselves. We’ll contact you if we have any other questions. Say hi to Beedee for us.”

“I will. Be well.”

They disconnected.

“The barn doors are open,” Priya said out loud.

“Yeah, and the horses want to leave,” Sophie said.

“It’s only a matter of time. Stop lights are rarely installed until someone is killed. What are we going to do? Wait for the deaths to pile up?” Raven said.

“We need to raise awareness,” Warren said.

“Thousands of articles have already been written about this over the past few decades,” Priya said. “Nobody does anything about it. As it was with global warming.”

“But those articles were written about hypothetical future events,” Pablo said. “Now it’s happening for real.”

“True, but it seems humanity needs to have a near death experience before it will do anything to save itself,” Priya said.

“Hopefully, it won’t be a full death experience,” Raven said.