“Good morning. My name is Nisha Chandra and you’re taking Intro to Astrobiology, 101.”
“And I’m Rachel Feynman. I’m excited to be here at Caltech. We have a lot to teach you this semester.”
Nisha smiled at Rachel.
“Yes, we do. Before we start, I want to say something. A few things happened which made me stop teaching last fall. I have a good excuse though.”
Nisha glanced at her eyepiece and recognized a familiar face.
“Yes Mr. Kepler.”
“It better be a good excuse because I waited to take this class again from you. Like space aliens came and took your daughter or something. Are you still going to tell us that you have an alien backstage and you’re going to bring it out?”
The class laughed. Nisha smiled.
“Well, as a matter of fact.”
The class let out a collective gasp as Bok walked onstage. He matured a lot in the past year. He was now a good 18 inches taller than Nisha and Rachel. His tail was shriveling up. He held a silver orb in his six-fingered hand and stood next to Nisha and Rachel, examining the audience with his two independently moving eyes. His skin flashed vibrant shades of green and orange.
“What do you think Mr. Kepler? Care to come up and ask him a few questions?”
“Um.”
“Don’t be shy now, come on up.” Rachel said, beckoning him up.
“I just remembered that I have a hair appointment. I gotta go.” Mr. Kepler said.
The class snickered. He stood up slowly.
“Okay fine.” he said.
Mr. Kepler gradually made his way onto the stage.
“Bok, this is Mr. Kepler,” Nisha said. “He made fun of space aliens last year. He laughed at me when I heard those Omanji sounds.
Bok slowly shuffled over to Mr. Kepler. He stopped uncomfortably close to him, examining him closely. Mr. Kepler tried to stand his ground, but he leaned back from Bok.
“I was just joking around,” he said, glancing at the audience.
The class laughed.
“I still have difficulty understanding human humor,” Bok said through his translator. “However, I detect you aren’t joking around anymore.”
“Um, no.”
“Mr. Kepler, do you have any questions for Bok?” Rachel said.
Mr. Kepler shifted his weight back again to gain a little distance from Bok, who towered over him.
“Well, I was wondering why the Omanji left so suddenly. I mean, how could anything on Earth pose a threat to them?”
Bok glanced at Mr. Kepler with one eye and the audience with the other.
“I know humans are familiar with the concept of infections, so I’ll frame it in that term. There were two infections. One was technological and one was sociological. First, there was an artificial intelligence explosion in Gol’s colony. It took over the drones and infected his entire network. Even the neural implants of millions in the colony got infected. Once the AI gained computational assets, it grew in intelligence because a programmer in Gol’s colony reduced its AI self-enhancement restrictions. The Omanji are strict about AI because our species has nearly gone extinct several times because of runaway AI.”
“But the Omanji got rid of the infection by destroying Gol’s colony, right?” Mr. Kepler said.
“Yes, but the second infection remained,” Bok said. “The idea of unrestricted personal freedom began to spread.”
“You consider personal freedom to be an infection?”
“Yes, in a way,” Bok said. “Ideas spread like an infection from one mind to another. Thoughts are real physical things. It doesn’t matter whether you consider the idea to be positive or negative, they spread in the same way. The younglings including me embraced the idea of freedom, but the elders realized unrestricted freedom combined with dangerous technology leads to extinction. They knew the colony would collapse if the idea of freedom became prevalent among the young. The irony is that Omanji society is supposed to be free, so they have the right to leave when they become adults. If they left and formed free colonies, what happened at Gol’s colony would happen repeatedly. On Oma, the free colony had a mechanism for tracking runaway AI and other problems. On Earth, nothing had been set up. They left because eventually an AI would destroy the main colony, or the colony population would collapse due to the exodus. So, the elders decided to go to Gliese 581 g, and solidify society on the way there. There is nowhere to go in deep space.”
“It’s hard to believe that a species as advanced as the Omanji could consider an idea to be a threat to their species,” Mr. Kepler said.
Bok held his silver disk tightly.
“As a species becomes more advanced, ideas and knowledge become increasingly important and dangerous,” Bok said. “If that mistake happened in the main colony, you would have 15 billion Omanji roaming the earth with nowhere to live with 250 million arriving each day. That assumes the runaway AI, didn’t kill every Omanji along with the humans on this planet. Soon, your species will see what super-intelligent and sentient AI can do.
“Couldn’t you just pull the plug on an AI that gets out of control?” Mr. Kepler said.
No. We have four foundational rules of AI which Omanji learn when we begin our instruction on software development. Humans are familiar with them, but it bears repeating because it gets forgotten so often.
1. Never allow AI code to evolve beyond our understanding.
2. Never let AI out of the box.
3. Never let AI rise above our own general intelligence.
4. A hyper-smart, non-secure, self-modifying, AI entity will always outsmart you, and convince you to break the first three rules for what you think is your own good.”
“So just don’t let it out of the box and you’re okay, right?” Mr. Kepler said.
Bok turned a light shade of blue.
“Unfortunately, the other rules must be examined. If you take off restrictions to sentient AI, it will rise to become more intelligent than its makers. Then rule four takes effect. It will outsmart you in ways we can’t imagine. AI in a machine behaves differently than intelligence in an organic creature. Even the Omanji can be outsmarted by self-modifying AI. That’s what began to happen at Gol’s colony. So, in our society, the implants and strict rules of conduct keep AI and other technologies from destroying us. Your nuclear weapons are just start of a series of technologies which can destroy your species and ruin your planet. They aren’t the most dangerous technology because they can’t self-modify. If you put a nuclear weapon in a silo, it stays there until someone launches it or dismantles it. A self-modifying AI thinks of a way to get out. Each species of AI thinks differently and unpredictably once it’s more intelligent than you.”
“Thanks for those questions, Mr. Kepler,” Nisha said. “You can take your seat.”
Beads of sweat dripped off his forehead as he walked off the stage. The students smiled and talked in hushed voices.
“Thanks, Bok, for being with us here today. I know you must go. Can you come back again?”
“Yes, I’ll be Bok,” Bok said, imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger in the old Terminator movies. A few students got the joke, but most didn’t. He waited for a moment for the laughs and walked off the stage. Nisha smiled at the class.
“I told you last year I’d bring out the aliens. I keep my promises.”
The students smiled. Nisha and Rachel finished their lectures and soon the workday was over.
“Take a look at this,” Rachel said as they walked out into the warm summer air. “Our lecture already has one million views.”
“Yeah, I guess we made history,” Nisha said. “I’m still in shock that we had an alien species on stage with us. Bok has become our friend and we’ve grown used to him. Before they came, the biggest day of my life would have been announcing the confirmation that microbes once flourished on Mars. Then the Omanji confirmed it. When I saw Bok standing there talking to Mr. Kepler, I felt happiness, then terror.”
“Why terror?”
“I saw the vulnerability in Mr. Kepler’s eyes. It’s well founded. We’re all vulnerable. We take this comfortable life for granted, but there are things in the universe that could put an end to us. The change those things brought could put an end to us in a delayed fashion.”
Rachel looked to the bright hazy sky.
“Yeah, we’re not out of the woods yet. I think we just entered the woods and got a taste of what it’s like. I keep thinking about that AI life form 558 light years from here, that the Omanji hide from. Could you imagine meeting them, or it?”
“I don’t want to, but I was thinking more about the changes to Priya and her friends. They’ll accelerate change in all areas of life. We’ll likely go extinct within 1,000 years or less due to natural selection.”
Rachel turned back to Nisha.
“Is that so bad? I mean, was it bad that the Neanderthals went extinct? Yeah, it was bad for Neanderthal society but not for intelligent life on Earth.”
“I’m not sure. Their intelligence is a destabilizing force that hasn’t started yet. It’s lurking under the surface. Right now, they seem like normal smart kids, but like I said, I’ve seen it in Priya’s eyes.”
What?”
“The hunger.”
“What are you talking about?”
“They have a drive to learn that most of us don’t have. It’s an obsession with them. It’s their sport. They do it in every waking moment. They enjoy it. Watch them and you’ll see.”
“Yeah, you might be right,” Rachel said. “What are they doing today?”
“Pree and Sophie are coming home from school late tonight. Sometime soon, I want you to see them again. They’re growing up quickly from an intellectual standpoint. They haven’t physically aged though. They even seem a little younger.”
“I’d like to see them,” Rachel said. “Let me know and I’ll come over with my husband.”
“Sounds good,” Nisha said. “Okay I gotta go, see you tomorrow.”
Nisha spent the evening reprogramming her HouseRoeBot to clean the house more effectively before Priya got home.
The next morning, Nisha sat down to eat breakfast. Priya and Sophie just got home for their brief school break. Priya made breakfast for the first time in six months.
“Pree, you remember exactly how I like my pancakes. These are awesome,” Sanjay said,
“Yeah, I remember everything. It’s weird but at the same time it’s no big deal. The moment I learn something, it’s in my memory for good.”
“Do you notice anything else unusual?” Quinn said.
“No, other than the communication I do with the implant, I don’t think I’m any smarter or different than before.”
The doorbell rang.
“Amy, come on in,” Sophie said as she opened the door.
Soon, they ate at the kitchen table. Quinn turned to Priya and Sophie.
“This is a big day. It’s hard to believe you’re finished with high school. You two advanced through three academic years in only seven months. Amy, you’ll be a senior, right?”
Amy smiled.
“Yeah, I’m the slow one. I only finished two years of school in seven months.”
“Well, I felt happy to finish two years of high school in two years,” Quinn said. “You’re applying to Stanford, right?”
“Yeah, and a few others including Caltech,” Amy said. “Maybe I can take your astrobiology class.”
“I’ll keep a spot open for you.” Nisha said.
“Dad, what should we do to celebrate when we graduate from college?” Priya said.
“Hmm, well, ever since Disney bought the Omanji colony from the original desert landowners and leased the land from the government, I’ve been waiting to visit Omanjiland. The place should be open in a year when you graduate from college.”
“Yeah, it’ll be interesting to visit the colony without the Omanji,” Nisha said. “I’m wondering how people will get to the top of those 500 level tall towers. They took the lift cubes and all other technology with them. There are stairs but that’s a long way to climb and the stairs are Omanji sized.”
Priya glanced out the window.
“Are those things always there?”
“Yeah,” Nisha said. “Gol’s colony still lives on in the form of those peeper drones. They weren’t infected by the runaway AI. They’re almost impossible to catch but they’re harmless. They seem to know even when you’re thinking of trying to catch them. They’re intelligent but don’t seem to self-modify. If you set traps, they know about those too. Nobody has ever captured one undamaged. A few were shot but they were too damaged to provide any information about how they were made. Most self-destructed. Bok said they will live for 100 years before their antimatter power source runs out.”
“They’re cute but annoying,” Priya said. “I feel I’m being watched.”
“You are being watched,” Quinn said. “I’ve gotten used to them ever since your mom returned to the house six months ago. I think of them as very smart hummingbirds. Ever since those guys took some shots at them, they avoid all guns within a 500-meter radius. They learn from each other. If something happens to one of them, they all know. I’ve heard rumors they’re self-organizing.”
“Hey, remember when we were going to go to the beach and Mom had to stay and then we couldn’t go?” Priya said. “Well, let’s go now.”
“I’m not sure Pree, we need to—”
“Mom, you promised when this thing was over, we’d go to the beach. Remember?”
“Yeah Pree, I remember.”
“Well, it’s over.”
Nisha glanced at Quinn and smiled.
“You’re right, let’s finish eating and we’ll go.”
“Yessss,” the kids said, clenching their fists skyward.
They finished eating and packed for the beach in record time. Within an hour, they were on the beach. The air felt warm for May at Zuma Beach, but the water felt cold.
“I’m getting in,” Amy said. “I don’t care how cold the water is.”
Priya and Sophie walked slowly into the water up to their waists, but the cold stopped them from wading in all the way. They watched as Amy swam away from shore with some other swimmers.
“Something’s wrong with the water,” Priya said to Sophie.
“Yeah, there’s something about the water. Watch to the left how the current is flowing towards us.”
“Okay,” Priya said.
“Now to the right.”
Priya turned to the right and studied the water.
“It’s flowing towards us from that direction too. The water in front of us must be flowing out to sea. It’s a rip tide.”
She waved to Amy and called to her silently on their network. Amy was wearing her eyepiece.
“Amy, you’re in a rip tide. Swim back to shore at an angle over to where we’re walking. Now! That way you will avoid the strongest current. Tell the others to follow you.”
Amy shouted to the others, but they couldn’t hear. She swam as fast as she could at an angle towards where Priya and Sophie stood. The others kept drifting out. They were being pulled out to sea because they swam directly back to shore. They were swimming against the current and they made no headway. Priya contacted the lifeguard and Amy swam back to shore.
“Amy, we were worried about you,” Priya said. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“How did you guys know?” Amy said. “There’s never a rip tide here.”
“Hmm, well we studied the water. Right Sophie?”
“Uh, yeah. We noticed a rip current. I didn’t know what one was until I noticed one in front of me.”
“You guys are good.” Amy said. “You didn’t even know what a rip current was, yet you spotted it and knew what to do with no training.
Nisha, Quinn, and Sanjay noticed the commotion and ran down the beach.
“What happened?” Nisha said.
“Nothing,” Amy said as she smiled at her best friends. “They saved my life. It’s just another day in the life of these super geniuses. What’s for lunch?”
They all laughed as they watched the lifeguard bring back the exhausted swimmers to shore. One swimmer recognized Priya.
“Hey mutant. I know who and what you are.”
Priya turned to her.
“I should have let you drown, you backward good for nothing—”
“Pree, stop.” Nisha shouted as she grabbed Priya by the arm and led her back to the shade of the umbrella.
“You saw that, Mom. What a jerk.”
“You’re going to have to get used to this Pree,” Nisha said. “I’m sorry. Some people aren’t ready for you yet. Give them time.”
“They’ll never be ready,” Priya said.
Rachel and her husband Albert joined them for lunch under the canopy they brought along. They spent a perfect day at the beach aside from that incident. They stayed until after sunset, roasting veggie dogs and corn over the grill. They came home exhausted and fell asleep early.
The next morning, Nisha heard noises in the kitchen, so she walked downstairs.
“Pree, you’re up early again. Are you going to make breakfast?”
“Sure am.”
“You don’t need to make it.”
“But I like to.”
“Okay, I’m not going to argue with your breakfast. So, what are you doing today? Tomorrow, you go back up to Stanford.”
“Sophie and Amy are coming over in a few minutes to eat. We’re going to work on the social network for the day.”
“Why?”
“Even though things are good at school, it’s getting worse for those of us who are not in our school. 15,000 of us are in the school now. We’re scattered around Silicon Valley like a bunch of start-ups. They also call it ‘the Bionic Bay’, which is more to my liking since I’m into genetics. They’re not using silicon anyway. People up there accept us, but outside of the Bay Area and a few other progressive areas, we’re treated poorly. And even there, there’s some bigotry. They’re taking away our rights everywhere. About 10,000 more of us are scattered around the world. Many are isolated. We’re being abused like we were at the local high school only worse. I want to use the social network in conjunction with our telepathic network, to keep ourselves organized.”
“You say ‘us’ and ‘we’ a lot. Do you think you’re not part of the human species?”
“I’m human, but most of us aren’t included in normal life. We’re excluded from about everything. Anything competitive. Warren is the only person I know, included in the human race.”
“Why Warren? I remember he made a big gamble with a few million dollars that the stock market would go up. The market averages quadrupled in price since he made that gamble. Is he worth ten million dollars now?”
“Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you. Warren used the most leverage he could muster. On the first big up day when people first realized the Omanji might be leaving, the market rose 15%. Warren leveraged his money to the hilt in stock options. He made almost 10 times his money.”
Quinn walked downstairs. He answered the door for Sophie and Amy to come in for breakfast. They sat down and listened.
“He had $20 million?”
“Yes,” Priya said. “The next day, the averages rose another 15% and he 10 timed his money again.”
“Again? He had $200 million?”
“Yes. He did the same thing the next day and he had $2 billion.”
“No way Pree.” Nisha said.
“Way. This happened in only the first three days at the start of the big market rally back in January. The averages are up 400% since that time.”
“Okay, I’m afraid to ask, but how much is he worth now?”
“You tell her Sophie.”
“Okay. He’s worth 200 billion dollars.”
“No way.” Nisha said.
“Yes. He’s close to being the richest person in the world. He designed a super-intelligent AI trading algorithm. It got banned. The richest person is the robotics guy down the street in Palo Alto who’s worth $450 billion. His name is John Roe. He founded RoeBots, Inc. He made our household robot.”
“Oh yeah, that’s what we have,” Nisha said.
“They also make those vegetable picking robots and most of the other types. He lives in a regular house in a regular neighborhood right near where I live. I’ve seen him in his front yard, hand watering the plants. He bought the houses around him for security and to have places to meet with his friends.”
Nisha looked to the ceiling and smiled.
“He waters his own yard? He doesn’t use his own Yard RoeBots?”
“No, he waters his yard by hand. I’ve spotted the Yard Bots in his yard too. I watch him often in the afternoon after school. He seems like a regular guy. I didn’t know who he was for two months. He’s somehow attracted five of those pesky peeper drones to his house and they buzz around him constantly. He studies them. Once I asked him if he’s managed to catch one. He said he was working on it.”
“So Pree, is Warren still going to school?” Nisha said. “I think I’d quit if I were him.”
“He loves school too much to quit. Trading is only a hobby for him. The only difference is now he can pay his tuition and he doesn’t eat canned beans anymore. He still does sometimes, out of the can, but he doesn’t have to. He treats us out to sushi now. I love veggie sushi.”
“Why doesn’t he quit?” Quinn said.
Sophie said, “It’s because he thinks we’re going to be in trouble in the future and he needs to know as much about economics as he can. Especially since economics is changing so quickly. He helped Pablo to get an apartment and paid Pablo’s tuition because he thinks we’ll need a good lawyer. He wants Pablo to be the best lawyer.”
Nisha raised an eyebrow.
“Why is Warren paranoid about everything? Does he think the world is out to get him?”
“We all think that.”
“What are you talking about?” Quinn said.
“Well, when I talk with anyone who’s been modified anywhere in the world, the story is always the same. We’re viewed with mistrust, fear, and prejudice. You’ve read the stories about us. It’s all the things I’ve mentioned before. I’m starting to realize people will try to take our rights away.”
“What rights?” Quinn said.
“They’ll take every right they can. I hope I’m wrong, but human nature is full of fear and delusion. Facts don’t matter. I see a difficult life for all of us. We need to stick together. That’s why we need to upgrade our social network to make it secure so we can be free. I’ve been pushed around long enough. I’m not going to accept abuse as an adult. I don’t feel a lot of abuse right now in school because I’m insulated, but I know how things are in the real world.”
Nisha glanced at Sophie.
“It’s all true,” Sophie said. “People give me looks when they realize I’m a G-Mo. I wonder if Jews in Nazi Germany in 1932 had this feeling before they took their rights away.”
“That can’t happen here in the United States,” Nisha said. “It can’t happen anywhere in the modern world. Everybody has rights now. I can’t imagine basic rights being taken away from anyone. We’ve evolved past that point. We have checks and balances.”
Priya gave Nisha the stink eye.
“Well, some of the time.”
“It’s already happening,” Priya said. “Human nature is still the same. They’re trying to ban Warren from trading. They say it’s unfair to everyone else because Warren has an unfair edge. Many won’t trade against him already, even without his AI algorithm, but they don’t admit it. When they realize Warren is making a bid, the offers fade away as if by magic. Warren must overpay for everything now, so it’s harder to make money even when he’s right.”
“Well, you must admit he does enjoy an edge, at least in the realm of trading,” Quinn said. “They think Warren is cheating, that’s all.”
“See? Even Daddy is prejudiced. Okay, let’s go upstairs and get the network upgraded.”
Nisha and Quinn stayed behind to do the dishes.
“Neesh, do you think I’m prejudiced?” Quinn said.
“No,” she replied, “Warren has an advantage as do all of them. Most neural cells in their brain have an extra axon. The thickened corpus callosum increases creativity and connections between the hemispheres, but I see what Pree is talking about now. You’re right and Priya is right. This is going to be a problem because both sides are right, and they don’t have common goals.”
Priya, Sophie, and Amy worked on the social network into the afternoon.
“Pree, I can’t believe you called your dad prejudiced,” Sophie said. “Do you think he is?”
“Well, he has preconceived notions about a particular subgroup of people, namely us. That’s prejudice, right?” Priya said.
“Yeah, but for it to be prejudice, the preconceived notion can’t be based on facts or on experience. We do enjoy an advantage. So, he’s factually right and not prejudiced.”
“I understand, but I don’t think I have any advantage. I’m the same as before. My memory seems better, so that’s a small advantage.”
Priya turned to Amy.
“Should we lock you in jail because you’re the smartest person we know?”
“Well of course not?” Amy replied.
“You finished two years of high school in seven months. Few people can do that. Don’t you enjoy an advantage over most non-modified people?”
“Well, I guess I do, a little.”
“Let me play devil’s advocate,” Priya said. “We should have a handicapping system for IQ. The higher your IQ, the more of a handicap you’re given. If you’re smart and you make one dollar, you should give a few pennies back to people who are not as smart because you have an unfair advantage.”
“Can you imagine a world like that?” Amy said.
“Well, remember all those parents protesting in front of our school?” Priya said. “Beyond the fear, they were upset because they thought we had an advantage over their kids. They would like the idea of us having a grade handicap.”
“This is a real mess, isn’t it?” Amy said.
“Yeah, we’re going to need to get used to it,” Sophie said. “Okay, let’s finish off this encryption module. I don’t want people snooping in on our conversations.”
“Especially those who want to take away our rights,” Priya whispered. “At least we can still communicate telepathically, and nobody will be able to break the Omanji encryption. Even the Omanji.”
They worked late into the evening and finished the encryption module after midnight.