Transhumanist Wager, The (54 page)

“What I want is for capable people
in the world to realize we can be so much more than just human beings, and to
act rationally and swiftly upon that truth without remorse, fear, or
interference from others who disagree.”

“Honestly, Mr. Knights, who will
listen? More importantly, how can you win? Ninety-seven percent of the planet’s
population is religious, and many people thoroughly disagree with transhumanism
and its ideals. It contradicts their innermost beliefs.”

“Who gives a damn about most
people? The capable will listen, and they’re the only ones who really matter.”

“And what of the billions of
others?”

“Those others will be given a
choice. If they fail to join and add something positive, screw them.”

Belinas slapped his knees,
frustrated. “Have you really zero concern for the opinions and well-being of
nearly the entire human race? Would you really leave all of us by the wayside?”

“Yes, if I must. I have no concern
for anyone or anything unless it can help me or the transhuman movement.”

“That’s utterly outrageous, even
from a deplorable megalomaniac like yourself,” Belinas replied. “Your scheme of
a winner-takes-all scenario would be a terrible descent into global mayhem and
savagery.”

Jethro shot back, “As human beings
continue to improve and transcend themselves—especially their evolution into
super-machines—nonfunctional philosophies and influences such as yours will be
dropped for expediency. It doesn’t mean global mayhem and savagery, it means
stiffer, more consequential competition. People will step up and learn to deal
or be lost.”

Belinas ran his hands over his
scalp as if fathoming the enormity of a revelation. He looked directly into
Jethro’s eyes and said slowly, “For Christ's sake, we should’ve killed you a
long time ago. The world you propose is catastrophically dangerous.”

“It doesn’t seem dangerous to me.”

“Perhaps not to you, Mr. Philosopher.
But it’s dangerous to the rest of us, to those billions who need and love God,
and who rely on His guidance and rules. It’s dangerous to those who count on
the altruism and kindness of other human beings to survive. It’s dangerous to
those who have few battle skills and will surely be losers in your desired
transhuman future. It’s dangerous to those who are already overwhelmed with
just living, whose struggle to survive for fifty or sixty years on this planet
is crushing enough. And that means nearly all human beings, except your kind.
People should be terrified of the world you are proposing.”

“Only a fool human lives his life
in fear because of the things you speak of. The only fear warranted is possibly
the fear of failing to be omnipotent. And those people you speak of are losers
because they choose to be.”

Belinas brusquely waved his hand in
the air again. “Of course, Mr. Knights. It’s just like you to feel that way. Do
you remember what you said in your first public Transhumanian speech in Cape
Town? That you would kill all of us if you had to. That you would murder every
single human being who was against you on this planet if it were in your best
interest. The Humanicide Formula is embedded into the core of your Three Laws
of Transhumanism. Fundamentally, you don't consider us worth giving a damn
about."

"Do the people of the world
give a damn about me? Do they give a damn about transhumanists? Do they even
fundamentally give a damn about each other? With the exception of
Transhumanians, all people and their governments have been sanctioning and
carrying out formulas of mass murder for centuries. Every time they accept
anti-science laws instead of pro-science laws, every time they embrace
restrictive religious attitudes instead of freethinking human enhancement
attitudes, every time they pay for trillion-dollar wars abroad instead of
funding trillion-dollar wars at home against cancer, heart disease, or old age,
they are prematurely ending the lives of their fellow human beings.
Premeditated or not, their participation constitutes a quantifiable
contribution to an ongoing global humanicide. The truth is undeniable. All but
transhumanists are guilty executioners of their fellow humans' precious life
hours."

"That's absolute
nonsense."

"Yet, there's something far
worse than mass murder, isn't there, preacher? Something else that somehow you've
gotten so many humans to accept unconditionally. We don't even have a word for
what I'm talking about because it's so preposterous. No evil can compare to
what some of the world's major religions have fated for billions of people—what
Jehovah, Jesus, or Allah plans to do on his purported Judgment Day. They each
have a formula for carrying out the mass sentencing of an 'eternal punishment
of suffering' of those who don't worship them and follow their rules.
Regardless of which religion it is, most of the human race will be forever
enslaved into a horrifying and excruciating hell."

Jethro raised his eyebrows and
stared at Belinas. "Honestly, preacher, could any person—whether it be
Hitler, Saddam Hussein, or Pol Pot—ever rival the diabolical madness that Jesus,
Mohammed, or the Popes envisioned and endorsed for billions of human beings?
Those religious prophets and leaders who laid down their rules and designs for
the world were the epitomes of evil. Their formulas for who gets into heaven
and who burns in eternal hell are far worse than any ideas conceived on
Transhumania. My nation's philosophy and its methods lead to greater, more
productive life hours for the species as a whole. Theirs leads to a paltry sect
of humans attaining bliss, while all others get charred forever in lakes of
fire. Is it possible to imagine a worse, more malevolent judgment than one that
forces an individual to undergo an eternity of total agony—let alone the eternal
agonies of many billions of people throughout the ages? Your religions are
totally asinine."

"
No one
should judge
God," Belinas said obstinately. "Humans don't have the capacity to
comprehend The Omniscient One's methods and decrees. Only He who gives life and
takes life can wield such power and understanding."

"You may have convinced
billions of human lemmings around the world of that, but not transhumanists. We
smelled the bullshit right away. We know the truth:
Religion equals death
."

"
Religion equals salvation
,"
Belinas retorted angrily.

Both men glowered at each other.
The silence in the dungeon was palpable.

"Regrettably, Mr. Knights, reciprocal
empathetic communication with someone like you is impossible. You're an alien. You're
missing the main spiritual organ in life: a soul that is afraid. Life has never
scared you into submission. Life has never damaged you enough to change you. If
it were somehow possible, and you were forced into a predicament where the only
way to reach your goal was to kill your wife, then you would kill her,
unafraid. You would murder her a thousand times to reach your immortality, if
required. That's how brutal you are at the core, how monstrous and evil you
are.”

Jethro threw his head back, a
shiver filling his body. Belinas had penetrated him, and found a vulnerable
point. Jethro remembered how grueling and twisting it was after Zoe died.
Remembered the utter pain, confusion, sadness. Despite this, the transhumanist
forced himself to answer, clearly and firmly, “What you say is true, preacher.
I would kill my wife a thousand times if I absolutely had to in order to reach
my goals. But the reality is, and will always be, that I love my wife. I love
her so utterly much even now, years later. And I would do an infinite amount of
things to avoid the perverse predicament you propose.”

Aggravated, Belinas pulled out
another cigarette and lit it.

“I believe you, Mr. Knights;
however, it hardly makes you less of a monster. You're no less the devil. Any
God-fearing person would give up his goal, or compromise on his goal, or change
his goal. Because life would be too much for him otherwise. Too overwhelming.
Too painful. Too punishing. The pangs of existence would force his humility and
submission. But not you. Not the
omnipotender
. Not the man who has no
fear of replacing God with himself. Or taking a billion lives. You wouldn't
change in the slightest. A man who can love as much as you and can also murder
like you—all in the same moment, in the same action—shouldn't be a part of this
world. You're an anomaly, the most potent deadly cancer, a blinding evil in a
spiritual universe. You’re the potential Antichrist and are dangerous to the
delicate equilibrium of life we have on this social planet. It's not wise to
allow cataclysmic game-changers in the form of a single being.”

“But this is my planet. And it's
not just a single being who thinks this way. It's another million of them
around the globe, some living on Transhumania, all of them leaders and
exceptional individuals. They’re not people killing their loved ones in some
crazy philosophical twist you propose; they’re people making it so others and
themselves can live longer, safer, healthier lives in greater prosperity.
That's the reality transhumanists create, even if they appear selfish and
inhumane.”

“While the majority of beings
become impoverished,” Belinas snapped back. “While they live in squalor, go
hungry, experience misery, breed sin, and get left out of the godlike advances
you create. Oh, and of course, they will certainly miss out on that great evil
you suggest as possibly coming: the Singularity.”

“We didn't force others into that
pathetic position, preacher. Rather, you led them there with your philosophies
of fear and control. And with your impossible insistence on equality, which
stunted their ability to use reason to advance themselves.”

Belinas shifted his body away for a
moment, trying to calm himself. The anger in him was amassing. He turned back
and stiffly said, “I lead them to where their capacities—as limited as they
are—can handle God and His will on terms by which they don't betray their
brothers and sisters, or their countries, or their own souls, or their planet.
Or do you really think the whole world could live on Transhumania and be
prosperous, and ponder incredible calculus equations, and work twenty-hour
days, and strive to be omnipotenders with no fear of anything? Do you really
think the average taxi driver, or burger flipper, or busty waitress with flashy
painted eyelashes could be a part of your elitist nation? Or the future
transhuman world you’re hoping for?”

“I believe in giving them the
choice. I believe in trying to teach them so they can contribute. Then kicking
them out if they fail. Otherwise, if they don’t belong, people will sink the ship
with their cumbersome weight. Such is the coarse reality of the evolutionary
inheritance built into the universe and the TEF philosophy. But I do try to
give them the choice.”

“Well, I'm much kinder than you,
Jethro Knights. I'm a humanitarian and a God-fearing man. Since I know choice
is irrelevant for them. They desperately need dogmatic control. Or they will
fail. They will sin. They will fall short and betray themselves, others, and
God. They will become devil-minded brutes. So I lead them to a place where they
don't get kicked out, where they can live out their lives under God's careful
watch and infinite forgiveness. I carry them when I have to—they're never too
heavy for me. That is the difference between you and me, between God and you.
We don't leave anyone behind. We don’t discriminate against the weak. If
anything, we discriminate against the strong and arrogant.”

“But many of them are weak
precisely because you never gave them the chance or the choice to be strong.
You screwed them up on the first day you brought the concepts of ‘God’ or ‘sin’
or ‘submission’ or ‘humility’ or ‘fear’ or ‘universal equality’ into their
thinking.”

“Nonsense. They would think that on
their own naturally. It's crafted into the biology of our brains. God put it
there.”

“Why? I didn't think that. No one
put it there for me.”

Belinas was furious now. Yet, he
wasn't quite ready to begin waterboarding Jethro. He wondered how long he would
last. Or if he was the honorable type to die first. The President and others in
Congress wouldn't like that. Screw them, Belinas thought. There would just have
to be some explanation of an accident. Killing Jethro Knights was in the best
interest of billions of people. Belinas knew God approved. And the preacher
overwhelmingly approved himself. It was all that mattered.

A moment later, the ceiling above
them began to hum; lightly at first, then louder, until the entire compound was
vibrating like a miniature earthquake. An engine making massive thunder was
descending upon them. Belinas jumped up, unsure of what was happening. Then he
understood when he saw Jethro grinning.

“You evil bastard,” the preacher
shouted. He jumped up and ran for the door. The bodyguard on the other side
opened it right as Belinas reached it, and said, “Reverend, I think we’re under
attack. I’ve just been radioed by the lieutenant that some sort of giant
aircraft is hovering outside the cave.”

Jethro glared at Belinas, who
turned back at him irately. There was mockery and murder in the transhumanist's
eyes.

Chapter 30

“He's right there, sir,” said the
Transhumanian engineer to Preston Langmore, pointing to Jethro Knights’ image
on the computer screen. “He’s quite far into the mountain—thirty-five meters or
more. That's his heatwave body form, and the microchip in his head is blinking
orange. The bots will deploy any second.”

“There they go,” announced Oliver
Mbaye. He was watching a giant video screen—thirty feet by twenty
feet—dominating the south wall in the Transhumania Defense Command Center. It
aired everything the robots viewed from their Cyclops-like eyes. On the bottom
left and right of the video screen flashed dozens of changing instructions and
logistics. They were data messages being directly transmitted from the robots;
it showed their positions, circumstances, and environmental assessments.