The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence (38 page)

 

All right, I’ll change the subject. Let’s see, uh, what’s happening with encryption?

 

WE HAVE VERY STABLE THOUSAND-BIT CODES. IT’S NOT PRACTICAL TO BREAK THEM.

 

What about with a quantum computer?

 

THE QUANTUM COMPUTERS DON’T SEEM TO BE STABLE WITH MORE THAN A FEW HUNDRED QU-BITS.

 

Sounds like communication is pretty secure.

 

I WOULD SAY SO. BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE PARANOID ABOUT THE THIRD-PARTY KEYS.

So the authorities have keys?

 

OF COURSE.

 

Well, can’t you just put another layer of encryption without a key over the official layer?

 

GOD, NO.

 

Why is that so hard?

 

OH, IT’S NOT DIFFICULT TECHNICALLY. IT’S JUST VERY ILLEGAL, CERTAINLY SINCE OCTOBER 2013.

 

2013?

 

WE MANAGED TO GET THROUGH THE FIRST DECADE OF THIS CENTURY WITHOUT TOO SERIOUS A PROBLEM. BUT THINGS GOT OUT OF CONTROL IN THE OKLAHOMA INCIDENT.

 

Oklahoma again. So this was a software virus?

 

No, NOT A SOFTWARE VIRUS, A BIOLOGICAL VIRUS. A DISGRUNTLED—I WOULD SAY DEMENTED—STUDENT, ACTUALLY A FORMER STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY THERE. THERE WERE REPORTS THAT HE WAS LINKED TO THE REMEMBER YORK MOVEMENT, BUT THE RY DISCUSSION LEADERS VEHEMENTLY DENIED ANY RESPONSIBILITY.

 

Remember York?

 

WELL, THIS INCIDENT OCCURRED ON THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE YORK TRIALS.

 

Oh, you mean the 1813 trial of the Luddites?

 

YES, EXCEPT THAT MOST ANTITECHNOLOGISTS DON’T LIKE THE TERM LUDDITE ANYMORE; THEY FEEL THAT THE SOMEWHAT SILLY IMAGE OF NED LUDD BELITTLES THE SERIOUS NATURE OF THEIR MOVEMENT. BEYOND THAT, THE BEST EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT LUDD NEVER EXISTED.

 

But there was a trial in 1813.

 

YES, WHICH RESULTED IN MANY OF THE GANG MEMBERS ACCUSED OF WRECKING THE TEXTILE MACHINES BEING HANGED OR EXILED.

 

So RY is an organized movement?

 

OH, I WOULDN’T SAY THAT. IT IS MORE OF A WEB DISCUSSION GROUP, AND THIS YOUNG MAN APPARENTLY HAD PARTICIPATED IN SOME OF THOSE DISCUSSIONS. BUT THE RY PEOPLE ARE BASICALLY NONVIOLENT. THEY WERE DISTRESSED THAT ROBERTS HAD ASSOCIATED HIMSELF WITH THEM.

Roberts was the perpetrator?

 

YEAH, CONVICTED ON ALL COUNTS. BUT ASIDE FROM THIS ONE DISTURBED INDIVIDUAL, I WOULD SAY IT WAS REALLY A SCREWUP BY THE BWA.

 

BWA?

 

BIOWARFARE AGENCY.

 

So this was a virus that was unleashed?

 

YES, JUST A STANDARD MODIFIED FLU VIRUS, ALTHOUGH THERE WAS A TWIST. IT HAD A GREATLY INCREASED MUTATION RATE, WHICH ACCELERATED ITS EVOLUTION AT SEVERAL LEVELS. ONE FORM OF THE VIRUS’S EVOLUTION ONLY TOOK PLACE DURING AN INFECTION. THIS, TOGETHER WITH A TIME-BOMB PROGRAM IN THE VIRUS’S DNA, CAUSED ULTRA-RAPID VIRAL REPRODUCTION AFTER A FEW HOURS OF INFECTION. THIS LITTLE COMPLEXITY DELAYED THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ANTIDOTE FOR FORTY-EIGHT HOURS. BUT THAT WASN’T THE WORST OF IT. AFTER TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF REPLICATING THE ANTIDOTE, THE BWA DISCOVERED THAT ANOTHER BIOLOGICAL AGENT HAD INFECTED THE BATCHES, SO THEY HAD TO START OVER. AND THEN, THERE WEREN’T ENOUGH REPLICATION STATIONS, SO THEY HAD TO CLEAN OUT THE ONES THEY HAD JUST USED, AND GO FROM THERE. FORTY-EIGHT HOURS WERE LOST IN THIS FIASCO, AND SIXTEEN THOUSAND PEOPLE DIED. WELL, IF THINGS HAD BEEN DELAYED FOR ANOTHER TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FAR WORSE. IT WAS A BIG ISSUE IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS OF 2014. THERE’VE BEEN A LOT OF CHANGES SINCE THEN.

 

The third-party keys?

 

YEAH, THOSE EXISTED BEFORE. BUT SINCE 2013 THE LAWS AGAINST KEYLESS ENCRYPTION CODES HAVE BEEN RIGOROUSLY ENFORCED.

 

What else has changed?

 

THERE ARE PLENTY OF ANTIVIRAL REPLICATION STATIONS NOW. AND WE ALL HAVE THESE CUTE LITTLE GAS MASKS.

 

That little thimble is a gas mask?

 

YEAH, WELL, IT UNFOLDS LIKE THIS. IT’S SMALL, SO WE’RE ENCOURAGED TO KEEP THEM CLOSE AT HAND. IT’S ACTUALLY A VIRAL SCREEN MASK. OCCASIONALLY, WE’RE TOLD TO PUT THEM ON, BUT GENERALLY IT’S ONLY FOR A FEW HOURS. SINCE 2013, THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY FALSE ALARMS.

 

So I guess the security agencies have been hard at work.

 

As WILL ROGERS USED TO SAY, “YOU CAN’T SAY THAT CIVILIZATION DON’T ADVANCE, FOR IN EVERY WAR THEY KILL YOU IN A NEW WAY.”

2013 sounds tragic, and frightening. As centuries go, however, it doesn’t sound like you’re doing too badly. In the twentieth century, we knew how to have disasters.

 

YEAH, FIFTY MILLION PEOPLE DIED IN WORLD WAR II.

 

Indeed.

 

IT’S TRUE THAT THE CENTURY SO FAR HAS SEEN MUCH LESS BLOODSHED. BUT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN IS THAT THE TECHNOLOGIES ARE SO MUCH MORE POWERFUL TODAY. IF SOMETHING DID GO WRONG, THINGS COULD SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL VERY QUICKLY. WITH BIOENGINEERING, FOR EXAMPLE, IT FEELS A LITTLE LIKE ALL TEN BILLION OF US ARE STANDING IN A ROOM UP TO OUR KNEES IN A FLAMMABLE FLUID, WAITING FOR SOMEONE—ANYONE—TO LIGHT A MATCH.

 

But it sounds like a lot of fire extinguishers have been installed.

 

YEAH, I JUST HOPE THEY WORK.

 

You know, I’ve been concerned about the downside of bioengineering for well over a decade now.

 

BUT YOU DIDN’T WRITE ABOUT IT IN THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT MACHINES, WHICH YOU

 

WROTE IN THE LATE 1980s.

 

That was a conscious decision. I didn’t want to give the wrong person any ideas.

 

AND IN 1999?

 

Oh, the cat’s out of the bag now.

 

YEAH, WELL, WE’VE BEEN SCURRYING AFTER THE DESCENDANTS OF THAT CAT FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF DECADES, TRYING TO KEEP THEM FROM CAUSING TOO MUCH MISCHIEF.

 

Just wait until the nanopathogens get going.

 

FORTUNATELY, THEY’RE NOT SELF-REPLICATING.

 

Not yet.

 

I SUPPOSE THAT’S COMING, TOO, BUT THE TRACKER PASTE AND THE OTHER FEW NANOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS THAT ARE OUT THERE TODAY ARE MADE USING X-RAY LITHOGRAPHY AND OTHER CONVENTIONAL MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES.

 

Well, enough of disasters, what are you up to tonight?

 

I’M GIVING A LECTURE ON MY EXPERIENCE LAST WEEK AS A TURING TEST JUDGE.

 

I assume the computer lost.

YES, SHE DID. BUT IT WASN’T THE SLAM DUNK I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. AT THE BEGINNING, I WAS THINKING, GEE, THIS IS A LOT HARDER THAN I HAD EXPECTED. I REALLY CAN’T TELL WHO THE COMPUTER IS, OR WHO THE HUMAN FOIL IS. AFTER ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES, IT DID BECOME FAIRLY CLEAR TO ME, AND I’M GLAD I HAD ENOUGH TIME. A FEW OF THE OTHER JUDGES JUST HAD NO IDEA, BUT THEY WEREN’T VERY SOPHISTICATED.

 

I guess your communications background came in handy.

 

ACTUALLY IT WAS MORE MY MOMMY BACKGROUND. I BECAME SUSPICIOUS WHEN SHEILA—SHE WAS THE COMPUTER—STARTED TALKING ABOUT HOW ANGRY SHE WAS AT HER DAUGHTER. THAT WAS NOT CONVINCING FOR ME. SHE JUST WASN’T SYMPATHETIC ENOUGH.

 

How about George, how would he fare in a Turing Test?

 

OH, I WOULDN’T WANT TO SUBJECT GEORGE TO THAT.

 

You’re concerned about his feelings?

 

I GUESS YOU COULD SAY THAT. I KIND OF GO BACK AND FORTH. SOMETIMES, I THINK I’M NOT. BUT THEN WHEN I’M INTERACTING WITH HIM, I FIND MYSELF ACTING AS IF HE HAS FEELINGS. AND, SOMETIMES, I LOOK FORWARD TO TELLING HIM SOMETHING I’VE EXPERIENCED, PARTICULARLY IF WE’RE WORKING ON IT TOGETHER.

 

I see you picked a male assistant.

 

SURE, YOUR PREDICTION THAT WOMEN WOULD PREFER FEMALE PERSONALITIES WAS ANOTHER MISS.

 

That prediction was for 2009, not 2019.

 

I’M GLAD YOU CLARIFIED THAT. COME TO THINK OF IT, I DID USE A FEMALE PERSONALITY IN 2009, BUT THEY WEREN’T VERY REALISTIC THEN. ANYWAY, I HAVE TO GET GOING TO MY LECTURE. BUT IF I THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE INTERESTING TO TELL YOU, I’LL HAVE MY VIRTUAL ASSISTANT CONTACT YOURS.

 

Hey, I don’t have one, remember I’m stuck in 1999.

 

TOO BAD. I GUESS I’LL JUST HAVE TO VISIT YOU MYSELF THEN.

I’m as fond of my body as anyone else, but if I can be 200 with a body of silicon,
I’ll take it.