assistirfilmes Book 4: Chapter 9: Group Building
Book 4: Chapter 9: Group Building
Book 4: Chapter 9: Group Building
Bob
August 2333
Virt
I looked around at the crowd in my library, uncertain if I should expand my floor space for the occasion. This was enough people to make my VR hardware sweat a little.
“Okay, everyone,” I said in a loud voice. “Let’s get started. Everyone knows me, Bill, Will, and Garfield. Guys, these are the people who’ve volunteered their time and/or their groups’ time to help out with the expedition planning. I figured we all ought to get together and formalize things.”
I motioned to my left, to a Bob with a floppy conical hat perched on his lap. “This is Gandalf, representing the Gamer group. They have volunteered to come up with a plan for getting some drones into the megastructure, and later to get some androids in.”
“Preferably without setting off alarms,” Gandalf said with a grin.
“That would indeed be preferable. Are you still leaning toward the hitch a ride plan?”
Gandalf nodded. “Nothing better has presented itself.”
I gave him an amused snort in reply, then motioned to the next person, who was wearing a grey nondescript coverall. “This is Hugh, representing the Sk—er, Singularity Project.” I paused, unsure if I’d just committed a social blunder.
“It’s okay, Bob. We know we’re referred to as Skippies. No one’s offended.”
“Er, okay. Hugh represents the Skippies, who are engaged in trying to build a super AI.”
“Wait,” Garfield interrupted, “I thought the Skippies went to numeric designations instead of names.”
“To be more accurate, we’ve moved away from audio speech in favor of packetized communication,” Hugh said. “Think of it like converting to sign language as a primary communications medium. Our ‘names’ are semantically equivalent to IP addresses.”
“Wow ...” said Garfield.
“But for day-to-day with other Bobs, I go by Hugh.”
“So you guys aren’t against this expedition?” Bill asked. “I understood the Skippies disapproved of relations with biologicals.”
Hugh shook his head. “Not in the same way as Starfleet, if that’s what you mean. Those guys are wacko. It isn’t a moral thing with us; we just think that interfacing with bios is inherently limiting.”
“Well, sure, we operate on different time scales, but what’s the problem?”
Hugh grimaced. “Look, Bill, guys, we—all the Bobs, that is—are what’s known as a speed superintelligence. We can and do operate at a much higher processing rate than humans. The problem is that we continue to accommodate them. Every time we slow down to interface with them, all the time we spend adapting to their history, time scale, schedules, is wasted time. It also sets psychological constraints on us. If we just let go completely, we could, as a species, experience centuries of internal life for every month of objective time.”
The rest of us exchanged glances. “Uh, it’s not completely wrong,” I said, “but it assumes that we have a goal of some kind with sufficient motivation to mandate cutting off contact with humans. There really isn’t any such schedule or deadline.”
Locutus held up a hand. “Hey, listen, what would help us a lot is some input from a biologist, especially one with anatomical expertise. I wasn’t sure if I should bring it up, but ...”
“Bridget?”
“Uh, it would be handy. I know she’s a little skittish around large groups of Bobs, but ...”
I sighed. “I’ll talk to her, Locutus. Anything else?”
Will waved his hand. “I have a line on a guy who was an expert on megastructures. I’ll set up an appointment to talk with him.”
“Was?”
“Well, he’s dead.”
“I ...” I gave Will the side eye. “Wait, he’s a replicant?”
“Yep. Retired to the Vulcan Post-Life Arcology in the Omicron2 Eridani system. Apparently he turned right around and started lecturing at the university again, via manny. So I have to fit myself into his schedule.”
“Whatever works.” I looked around the room. “Anything else that needs to be covered?”
There were several shakes of heads, but no responses.
“Great. I’ll call another general meeting if necessary, but for the most part you can all follow your own schedules. Thanks, all.”
Within a few milliseconds, everyone had popped out, leaving only Bill. With the load off the VR system, I reactivated Jeeves and accepted a coffee.
“So what’s up?”
“Bridget.” Bill hesitated. “Locutus was right to ask about her for consulting, but I want to take it one step further. I’d like to see her on the expedition itself.”
I frowned. “She’s got children, Bill. And Howard. I don’t know how well that would work. She’d have to be away from them for large periods of time.”
“Granted. But they might be able to work something out. Or she might clone.”
“Doubtful.”
“Yeah, I guess. But let’s not write off the idea without trying, okay? At least bring it up.”
I nodded. “Will do.”