A Paradox in Retrograde (36 page)

Chapter 15

There in the twenty second century of the Common Era arose
the highest level of technology the human race had until that
point ever enjoyed. If one were alive in that era one would quite
naturally see themselves as a beneficiary of a line of progressive ascendency stretching all the way back to the Bronze Age.
There was little about their universe that could not be rigorously quantified and classified. However there were hidden realms
cloaked even to them. It was to these seemingly out of reach
places that their greatest minds would endeavor to explore as a
last frontier.

In the highlands that overlooked the restless Atlantic, a city
had been built to replace its namesake, lost to the sea many decades before. Since its inception, many a gleaming structure and
monument had risen. The silhouette of which was itself a testament to their new found mastery over nature. Presiding over
this new city, the Trans Continental stood as the tallest building
in New Manhattan. Clad in glass and steel, never had a truer
symbol of prosperity and achievement been built. Itwas to this
prestigious location that the citizens looked to, as a sentinel of
progress. And upon its occupants were bestowed the accolades. It
was quite natural then that there in a corner suite near the top, resided the offices and laboratories of Doctor Robert Amida.

It was an unusually clear morning and the offices faced out upon
a city that was awash in the colors of dawn. From this aerie vantage out through his tinted plate windows, Robert stared down at
it all. On a day such as this, one could see clear across to the far
side of town. Aligned there along the grand avenues, he saw this
rarified light painting the familiar landmarks in long angular
shafts of golden light. Those objects of monumental size and
scale captured great swaths of this light, leaving only languid uniform shadows in their wake. Lost, unseen from view within these
shadow’s footprints, a sea of humanity toiled anonymously. From
this lofty perch, there was little that could be discerned about the
lives of those living among these patchworks of cityscape. He
however was not inclined to feel the need to, for in this place he
would see only the dynamic clock work movements that were the
sum of its parts. In this world few single voices could be heard
above the din, as myriad souls moved in concert. He like most of
his kind from this gained a measure of serenity, a confidence
made of conformity.

Plain and self effacing, Robert Amida was an amiable sort whose
reputation often preceded him. As a researcher his work drew him
attention he neither asked for nor enjoyed. Ironically his conditioning wouldn’t allow him to see himself as the world saw him.
More concerned with the coordinates than values, his mind was
uniquely tuned to this burgeoning science of Neuronal Topology.
It was here then on 138th floor of the Trans continental building
where Robert Amida led the research department for Bio Machine International. BMI had for decades been the world’s leader
in artificial intelligence. As a specialist in this field he had been
its leading advocate and researcher. It was also here where his
experiments aimed to draw back the last curtains from a secret
world had taken place. His company now was on the cusp of doing just that. However, though he and his colleagues seemed
close to that elusive breakthrough, he had begun to display an
uncharacteristic anxiety. Just as these answers drew within his
grasp, mounting costs were now threatening to close his projects down. The more he drew closer to his prize, the more distinct his foreseeable failures seemed to loom.

He stood at the end of a long line of researchers who had long
ago thrown society’s fortunes in together with that of technology. In an effort to further civilize the populace the study of the
mind had for centuries been in the forefront of scientific research. No stone it would seem was so sacred as to be left unturned. With these efforts the depths of human consciousness
had been plumbed and this science had come of age. Since the
revolution produced by the rise of Artificial intelligence, great
strides had been made in closing the last gaps between what
was known and what could not be known about the process of
human thought, and in fact consciousness itself. Though brain
analogs had been synthesized, spawning a range of technologies, the holy grail of mapping consciousness itself remained
elusive. The brain and the mind though wholly dependent upon
each other, were as it would be discovered, possessed of such
differing natures as to be alien to one another. The truth involving the theoretical region which had once been titled the seat of
mind was now known to be far more mysterious than previously thought.

Not accustomed to hand wringing he surprised himself to learn
how anxious he truly was. Again and again he nervously looked
down at his watch checking the time. In anticipation of immanent suspension of his program he had reached out to a select
group of purse holders who may be sympathetic to his plight.
None so far had shown the levels of interest that he had hoped.
The opportunities were diminishing by the hour and now his
latest potential investor it would seem was late. The sound of
his secretary’s voice over the intercom gently startled him from
his contemplation. "Dr. Amida your ten o’clock hasarrived.
Shall I show him in? "

Robert answered excitedly into the intercom, "Yes Polly, please
do. Thank You. "He brushed off his jacket and adjusted his tie
one last time before turning to face the door. He turned just in
time to see the door open. There his golden haired secretary Polly
entered wearing her usual smile and gestured for the gentleman to
enter. Within the cocoon of his office the lights were low, but
warm. His guest surveyed the conservatively appointed yet comfortable office. Polly gave Robert a private wink then turned and
left the room, closing the door behind her. Standing there before
him smiling was a tall and hansom middle aged man of pale complexion. His eyes were dark and his wavy hair showed some signs
of having been recently touched up. Though he wore a plain
black conservative suit its details belied his more refined origins.
A smile turned up the corners of his mouth as a thought ran
through Roberts mind, "He smells of money." As he looked into
his eyes he sensed that this was no common businessman. His
guest reached his hand out to him in greeting and said, "Good day
to you sir, Do I have the pleasure of meeting Doctor Robert Amida?"

"You have." he responded as they heartily shook each others
hand. "And you I presume are Doctor Fredrick Jamison? Please
have a seat." He gestured towards the opposite end of his corner
office. There a well-appointed sitting area, furnished in soft fabric
and warmly lit awaited them. "I took the liberty ofordering you a
coffee. I hope it meets to your satisfaction."

"That will do fine, thank you." He said as they both found their
seats. Doctor Jamison put his valise down upon the glass top table, sat back and crossed his legs. The solid mahogany door
swung open and Polly entered bearing a serving tray with two
cups of piping hot coffee, cream and sugar. She laid the teak serving tray out upon the table before them. "Is there anything else I
can get for you right now?"
"No thank you Polly."

They both watched as she exited the room. As she closed the
door behind her, the room went quiet. For an uncomfortable
minute both of them sat stirring their coffee in the odd silence
waiting for the other to speak. After a moment Robert broke the
silence. Playing coy he asked, "So Doctor Jamison, I’d like to
thank you for coming on such short notice. I have a proposal if
you would like to hear it?"

"Please call me Fred. All my friends call me Fred."

"Alright Fred, Please forgive me if what you are about to hear
seems unorthodox. I assure you however that the offer that I am
presenting to you is a serious one."

Jamison once again hesitated and after an additional uncomfortable moment, then spoke.

"To that I have no doubt. However if you wouldn’t mind forgoing at least for now with the presentation for I have one of my
own that may suit both of our needs."

Robert was intrigued by this sudden turn of events and so conceded. "By all means proceed."

"Very well, as you are well aware, I am the director of the medical psychiatric research center at New Manhattan hospital. As
such I ordinarily would have had no need to cross paths with
you professionally. This has nothing of course to do with any
lack of respect in your field. I need not stress I fear the differences between our two fields could not now be greater than at
any other point. Until recently I had no reason todoubt this
long held prejudice. That was until I read your recent research. I
hope I am representing this correctly. In your paper you describe a novel method of accurately measuring the quantum displacement of a standard memory unit. "
"Measuring is probably an incorrect term for predicting entanglement. But I do understand what you’re getting at. Let me try to
restate it for you. Now for each neuronal connection there is a
corresponding electrical charge that fires off and on as called on
by the brain to do so. This pattern for lack of a better example is
the fire of consciousness. As you know there has never been an
adequate method to measure such things. The research required
us then to look at it with a new set of eyes. It was then that we
looked to the science of quantum fields for answers. The brain
works like all things in nature do in that for each quantum of energy produced there, there is a superposition where in, it exists
partly in all of its theoretical states simultaneously. We are using
new tools have been successful for the first time in qualifying the
existence of a quantum field of the mind external to the brain. It
is believed that this weakly interactive field is generated firstly in
the biological brains of animals. There somewhere in the ether its
entangled counterparts hang invisibly. However as far as we can
tell, it is the sentient consciousness of the human mind that alone
out of all the world’s creatures exists in such a fashion."

"You speak of new tools, is it too early in the process to divulge
such secrets?"

"Well the answer is yes and no. There are pending patent issues.
So for now I can speak on these things only as they relate to the
published material. As a courtesy to you I will indulge your questions as well as I am able. As far as the tools and their methodologies, I am not at liberty to discuss. As you may note that the
name of the process gives much away about the nature of the
technology. This however has already been published. The name
is a long one but as you will see, it does well at describing itself.
The Crystalline Magnetic Resonance for Neuronal Topology is
the process through which those faint echoes of the minds corresponding external quantum states are for lack of a better word,
mapped. In theory this should not be possible. As you know only
a single quantum state can be measured. We have for centuries
known however that for any event a multitude does exist unseen.
A magnetic field analyzer by use of a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence is made to qualifying in form of all the potential entangled states to a given event. These patterns are then
rendered into a localized stasis field. Once the signal form is
isolated there within a crystalline lattice, it is then stabilized
within by use of harmonic resonance amplification. Then by
fine tuning the signal to its specific resonance we have been
able to preserve indefinitely many such examples. We have
over the course of many months’ replicated many of these patterns. In time without really knowing it we were simulating a
conscious human neuronal signal form patterned after a specific
subject. While these signal forms remain in stasis their quantum
state has yet to be determined. For this it must be observed."

Robert was pleased that his guest was still paying attention. He
was surprised when he asked the question, "How so?"

"Well it’s elementary actually. Because these fields are in entangled states, it is only when these signals are accessed by the
subject are these states manifest. This wrinkle however is a
cause for concern due to the nature of scientific peer review.
Beyond graphical representation of the specific forms it is proving difficult to measure them in a meaningful non abstract way.
Without this I fear this technology may remain merely a curiosity."

"Excuse me, not to interrupt but I must say something. I am not
a physicist, so I am having some bit of trouble with the more
ethereal aspects. But does this state not in factconform to the
laws of physics? Should it not be expected that only the most
abstracted evidence could be measurable? Perhaps those who
review this research do not quite understand its implications? I
mean no disrespect when I say this. But beyond this technology’s cache have there been any practical applications put forth
subsequent to this research? "
"Now you’ve hit the nail right on the head. You see the position

I’m in. I’m a scientist not a businessman. It doesn’t work like a
computer. Beyond the pure theoretical physics involved and the
obvious philosophical ramifications there is little in the way of
what you would call a marketable use in it. This project has cost a
kings ransom. However the project no longer enjoys the same
enthusiasm of its backers that it once had. Virtually every day my
books are examined. We experiencing frequent shortfalls and auditors are asking me to be accountable for expenditures. I fear my
funding streams may soon run dry."

"That is of course why I’ve come to see you."
"How do you mean?"

"Robert, after carefully studying your research I have come to a
conclusion that may be beneficial to us both. Have you envisioned the potential therapeutic uses for such a technology?"

"Well no not exactly but I’m listening."

"Just imagine for a moment the thousands of patients who each
year must struggle with little hope against the ravages of those
mental illnesses that are not easily treatable with modern medicine. Yes medicine has advanced leaps and bounds from the dark
ages of its infancy. There are those few however who never respond to any treatment. I can imagine by the use of such technology that great advances could be achieved in our lifetimes. Such a
breakthrough in medicine that resulted directly from use of this
technology would of course have the potential to end once and for
all any fiscal problems related to this project. I suppose I should
also be clear in that I or my organization have nodesire to control
your research or your company. I wish only throughthis partnership to advance this technology’s utilization."