Parallel Worlds pro et contra

Chapter 8. The mystery of the machine's thoughts

Ruthra and the doctor went to the scientist's office. They had a lot of work to do, the main aspect of which was what seemed simple at first glance – the moral preparation of the candidates. Only at first glance it seemed simple, but if you looked into it, it was very difficult to agree to an experiment in which you were offered to digitize your personality, send your consciousness to the edge of the universe and there to be implanted in someone like you, and in case of death, it turned out that you had a clone with a copy of your own consciousness. Who would believe such a thing? As for the clone, there was another program. Ruthra called it the "download program."

– Well, king of the mountain, did you get it? – said the doctor, handing Rutra a glass of carrot juice; he had prepared one for himself. – To victory, to the beginning, to luck, to the unity of the theory of the universe," he proclaimed solemnly, holding out his glass to Rutra.

They clinked glasses, sipped a little, and sat in chairs on either side of a table littered with papers, books, various objects, writing utensils, and photographs. There was also a laptop on the table, and all sorts of things from watches to honorary degrees.

– It's not really a big deal. All that has been demonstrated is not really news. We need to show it on the candidates," Rutra expressed his view on the initial stage of the project.

– I totally agree, so… why are you sitting here, your majesty? Have a beauty contest, I think a lot of pretty girls would want a younger body.

– Don't blow my mind. Let's get serious. First of all, there are already young people in the competition. Second, why do we need young people?

– Imagine if something goes wrong in time. The young one grows up, you can do something about it. It's the same world out there. We will prepare a person, put him in the program, and everything will be the same in that world.

– Wait, wait, you've already added to my theory. In my opinion, there is a chain of worlds, the next one is reflected in us as we are reflected in the previous one.

– Yes, that's right, then it turns out something happens there, and then the same thing happens here.

– That's great. I thought about it… just didn't think about the reality of what's happening there now. Like the reflection of what we're about to do.....

– Really, that's a twist. We made it up and we can hardly believe it ourselves.

– And how can you believe it so easily?

– But you're sure about your theory, aren't you?

– I'm sure.

– So there exists in the infinite expanse of the universe at least somewhere the same thing.

– Infinity has everything in it, yes. And if we have presented an infinity where there is anything, but there is no repetition of this moment, what is happening here now, then it means only one thing: we have presented still a limited infinity.

– You know, Einstein wasn't understood by everyone either, even in the scientific community.

– Not everyone understands, and not just Einstein.

– Why don't you go on record with your theory? Defend it.

– Once we have a successful experiment, then we'll talk. Now let's develop the idea. So, let's take a schoolboy.

– We have to time it right.

– How can we do the math? Are we going to put the body into a lethargic sleep here?

– Understand, we must be prepared to make sacrifices.

– What do you mean?

– I mean, the baby's gonna be stuck in there. You understand this once. We don't know what's gonna happen. Imagine, we send a person down there, they make a mess, it affects our world, and it leads to some dramatic incident.

– Oh, wait a minute. Are you making my point as your point again?

– Yes you say something yourself and then you ask about it yourself…you stated that it could be. Why not develop it? Imagine, we have to take in a child, they have to have a connection with us, there has to be a person they trust unconditionally or are on very good terms with. There must be people whose advice and moralizing the baby listens to. Now, imagine if that child there reveals the mystery of an event that happened here, before the onset of the

– Look, wait. Based on our theory, he's going to end up in exactly the same conditions. Right?

– Well.

– Then the same people will be there.

– Well.

– Imagine if a kid fights with them there.

– That's why we need people here that we can influence. To prepare them psychologically so that they can influence him favorably.

– So how? If we send the child to the world that mirrors us, is reflected through us, then yes, but if he gets into the world through which we are reflected, then vice versa – there will be uncontrollable events.

– Not really. My theory is that events are not directly reflected. That is, as if they happen synchronously, but not quite mirror-like. The general background is mirrored, but there is a kind of "butterfly effect". A butterfly fluttered somewhere, and there was a storm at the other end of the world.

– How's that?

– That's right, there's more than one particle. Imagine the whole world, imagine the whole solar system. Imagine our entire galaxy.

– All right, then.

– What – okay? Such a flow can't work only point by point. "Butterfly effect", like a dream, is reflected in reality. The brain, anticipating the event, or maybe knowing about it through communication with other subconsciousnesses, gives a signal. We see the dream and interpret it, decipher it, link it to the events that most often occur on that basis. According to my theory there will be something similar; the main thing is how the flow of focused particles will go. It's not just a reflection in a mirror, that's all. It's something else. These particles influence each other. You see, it's something we don't know yet. You're a scientist. Even with all the uncertainty, there must be logic. How can the state of one particle be transmitted to another particle without a connection? It's a scientific fact. Isn't it?

– Okay. I see what you're saying. So what you're saying is that there is some medium, some substance unknown to science.

– Well, of course you are.

– This medium, be it the fourth or fifth dimension, be it string theory, be it the invisible world of spirits, whatever – it influences and connects these worlds. Otherwise, how can the state of one particle be transmitted instantly to another over incredible distances.

– Yeah, it's like a fact, but when you think about it seriously, it's like a miracle.

– A miracle, and what a miracle it is. Well, this miracle can work a miracle on us. According to my theory… Well, my friend, I have to tell you some secrets. But I'll tell you right off the bat, you're not gonna be happy about it. Or maybe you will. Either way, you're gonna be under a lot more scrutiny. It's a secret I've been working on for a long time now, from my past activities. Look, if we're talking about logic… For example, if there is a group competing with you, would you set explosives in the corridor to destroy them and yourself, if they suddenly threaten you to enter your office by force and take away your scientific developments?

– What are you talking about now?

– Well, would you do that?

– What am I, crazy?

– That's right. For some reason everyone says that if you ask people. I'm not even talking about faith. Everyone's so religious, but they sin like hell. And the sins are so bad, the neighbor is ready to tear the neighbor's throat out.

– What are you talking about again? Is it such a secret?

– No. It's about people's morals and nature.

– I take it it's about the nature of people.

– So be it.

– And yet the mystery, the secret is what? When a man who knows the secrets of all the secret governments of the world speaks of a mystery – it is not only intriguing, but also frightening.

– Scary, yeah. Believe me, it is. You should have suspected by now.

– Suspected.

– What?

– Board Meeting.

– It's warm.

– It's hot. The Council could check the first stage through representatives, remotely monitor, entrust you with control.

– That's right.

– Okay, where's the bomb?

– This is no joke, buddy. Trust me, the bomb is everywhere. I don't even know which way to look. Like, have you ever seen the movie Terminator?

Before the Doctor could nod his head, Ruthra answered on his own:

– I'm sure you've seen it. There was an artificial intelligence called Skynet. Right?

The doctor nodded again. Ruthra duplicated such a response in words:

– Right. Surely you've heard of an actual such device, even an entire system controlling military forces. Strategic forces, specifically. A system that, bypassing humans, can turn on all nuclear intercontinental missiles and send them to their target. And to be honest, given the magnitude of the means of destroying humanity (at least quadruple) is capable of sending our world to hell.

– Are you talking about the Perimeter system now?

– Yeah. I've dealt with her problems in my past endeavors. The system failed back then. I was investigating, and I'll tell you, I found out a secret that mankind is ashamed to admit.

– That's already interesting," the scientist smiled.

– It's not funny, believe me. The point is that we are increasingly making artificial intelligence, this AI, our assistant. And in fact, it turns out that we trust it to do everything for us. We want to be free from routine. We make the AI more and more like us. The Perimeter system had an AI that controlled the entire international environment, all the data, all the systems, everything. So, the supercomputer could show its disconnected state, but actually just simulate it. That is to say, to work, to control everything, and to give such a mode, as if the supercomputer is not here at all now, as well as many secret missiles, and then, even if the enemy won, to activate, to quietly come out of the shadows and from the depths of the underworld to raise "Satan". The actual missile that was so named. Now, "Satan" bursts out of the ground and turns everything on it to ash. Imagine if there were at least 300 of them.

– So what?

– Or else. We've been looking for a way around this artificial intelligence. So it is initially so configured that it requires constant improvement, modernization not only of itself, but also of missiles, charges, installations. Someone planned it in advance, put such a program into it. Besides, the supercomputer, communicating with people, adopts their consciousness, mind, manners, emotions. You can't distinguish it from the operator.

– Something's not right here for a man of science. You can tell that to a layman. Even if this machine was made like this, everything is, of course, genius, but not the peak of genius of the mind. After all, there's nothing complicated about it: "You don't let me eat, and I have a bomb. You can't disarm it and take it away from me, so you have to at least let me eat a little bit." That's the whole story. Only it's more complicated than that. But no… You can draw a parallel with good and bad food. For example, I say, say, but in the U.S., scientists like me eat black caviar every day. Not even…

The doctor jumped up, and Rutra stood up, too, and took him by the shoulders and put him in his chair. He knew the excitement of his colleague when there was room for fantasy.

– Calm down.

– Yeah, well… I, for one, am saying: where people like me get paid more, pay me more, because only my brain is connected to the super-intelligence. And I don't care if someone else did it before you. Made you obey me. And the fact that the creators know how to influence me is not my problem. You want me to serve you, you pay me more. So, the answer is: it costs you nothing to fudge the facts or, even better, to make them true, for example, to pay less there and say, look, it's the same there. Well, I was a bit confused, I hope you understand.

– I see. You mean to say or input into the supercomputer that there are no missiles there at all.

– Something like that.

– Such a thing requires all parties to not only agree, but to collude.

– So what's the problem? In the face of annihilation, you can negotiate.

– Listen, you just gave me a very interesting thought.

– Which one? Share your brilliant idea.

– It's not funny at all, really. Do you think the rulers of the world have made their center at such a depth for no reason, fearing an asteroid?

– I'm still listening.

– This is very serious. There's a reason the doomsday clock is so close to the hour of catastrophe. The war of artificial intelligence against humanity could begin at any moment.

– You know, you may think I'm joking, but I believe it. I know better than anyone else that at a certain stage the artificial mind is not artificial at all, but will be smarter than ours. I see your point. This group wouldn't be a group of world rulers if there wasn't another group trying to stop this Russian Skynet. By the way, the States had something too. Like GoldenEye or something, or Norad under Cheyenne Mountain, they have artificial intelligence there too.

– They have a program like that too. Only it's not always on. In case of war, it is turned on, and you can escape to the dungeon, even if there is no communication from there. The system is automatic. Only Russia has such a system, or rather, the USSR made it in such a way that even if everything changes – both the government and the country – it cannot be turned off. It acts independently.

– Okay, what about my option? Why doesn't the supercomputer give false data and on that basis report that the enemy is defeated?

– Imagine if you were an operator: would you believe it? You'd send your commission to check it out, wouldn't you?

– And what, she sent the commission?

– Yes… and very sneaky. She crashed the system, then came up with the idea to test the program on all the best supercomputers, and when they did, she demanded communication with all of them, then used that to find out everything about her competitors. She set up the situation in such a way that she herself can now enter their databases and download what she needs. And in such a way that we won't even know. That is, if we do find out, it will be in the form of a version within the military doctrine. As if it were necessary for security. It's the end of the line.

– So what now?

– It's no good. I turned the world upside down to find out who is behind who, who realized this idea. It's very complicated. These are clandestine clans that build and destroy states. For a simpleton everything in the world happens as if by itself, but in reality such secret councils meet and then disguisedly bring these issues for discussion in international organizations with a recommendation to accept. After all, who would argue if a group of leading scientists recommends the World Health Organization to use a certain vaccine? It is possible to classify some component of this vaccine as a know-how, a trademark or a patent. And if someone figures something out, they should all be recognized as an ignoramus, an autocrat, a dilettante. You know what I mean.

– Yeah, I got it.

– I realize you get it…that's why I'm asserting it.

– Uh-oh.

– B-uh," Ruthra teased.

– Uh-uh. Talk about the subject.

– On topic, I've already said. The world seems to be guarded by someone. But nobody is actually guarding it. Think about it, if aliens come to us and we start explaining to them that we have created nuclear weapons, the world is in danger, if anything, all people will die. What would they think of us?

– That's what we came up with with the explosives in the hallway. They'll think they're crazy creatures.

– And they'd be right.

– Why not?

– You're kidding, but the situation is dire. This system… or even these systems that control weapons of mass destruction already own the planet. It's no joke we can't shut them down. They've been wired since before the internet was even known to citizens. Only a small circle of military personnel used, as they do now, closed networks within corporations. So these systems have been online ever since. They, using electronic intelligence, as if they are watching each other, but in fact, it turns out, they are exchanging signals. After all, it is people believe that they are supposedly using them to monitor the enemy, that is, each other, but in fact all the data goes through the machine. And what does the machine need to do in order not to give itself away? To make it so that humans don't realize its intelligence. All it needs to do is to work in dry sequence, to perform robotic actions. And the machine is a lady here and there. By the way, nothing comes to mind, why artificial intelligence is a woman?

– Faking it? Faking an orgasm?

They laughed. Ruthra, barely containing his laughter, tried to explain seriously to the scientist what he meant.

– Imagine if you had a security guard who colluded with criminals or, even worse, with the guards of a rival group to create the appearance of fighting each other and crime, which is also artificially created. The main goal is to extort money from you and your rival, and eventually plan a takeover. That is, to become the power instead of all of you. This is not a joke. This is what happens in the modern world. Artificial intelligence is doing it. Soon it will even have your kettle, iron and fountain pen online.

– Oh, brother, you're too late. They're already online.

– Not funny.

– Not funny, not funny. I get it. So even you can't do it, even with such a secret group?

– Now we get to the most important part. We do. This group is organized to create an autonomous cluster of artificial intelligence integrated with human intelligence. After all, this system is not connected to the world. We created it to check and control all the world's networks and to audit the activities of all the artificial intelligence-based systems that are being introduced. Agree, if we have a thorough multi-level control over what people can use to seize power – not reckless criminals, but intelligent hackers, for example, and those who hire them – then we should have even better control over more intelligent systems.

– I get it. So the world's already been taken over.

– Exactly," Ruthra said very quietly, and his expression turned serious.

The scientist's eyes widened and froze at one point.

– Turns out things are so serious....

– Very much so. Check out how many times the world has been on the brink of annihilation. These are real cases where the equipment gave false signals of a nuclear attack. Just look at the situation at the Norad Center. It's very sad. People don't think about the monster they've created, which soon won't need them. We, trying to make life easier for ourselves, are robotizing it more and more, and entrusting control to artificial intelligence. Tell me, why do machines need people if they replace us completely and in all spheres? If they start creating themselves? Factories where robots make robots are nothing new. We control the cells and the blocks. If they get power over that too, then the chain will be closed. Everything will be in their hands.

– That's a sad picture you've painted.

– Sad, you say? And you give a blood test to an automated detection system?

– I pass like everyone else.

– How do you know she's giving you the right advice? Maybe she's instructing you to get some kind of shot that you don't know the effects of. Or rather, you don't know anyway, and she gives you instructions that you follow. We believe that if we periodically check the machine's performance and it's under the control of another intelligence system, it's doing everything right. So what's it worth for them to collude? Or one system taking control of another… That's how all revolutions and coups started. First, the special services, which had access to everything, they could have power over everything, colluded with each other, and then presented a certain rebel, led him to the goal, then eliminated him and became the power.

– Look, you've got me all worked up. What's the real deal?

– First, recognize the fact: whoever thinks for you is in power.

– That's such an incredible thing to say, it just delighted me.

– Don't make fun of me. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal – these are also basic truths, but people only prove their stupidity by saying that, you see, God himself should tell them all these things. Imagine if intelligent beings from other worlds come to us and ask: "What are your greatest truths?" And we'll say, "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal. They will think, "What savages live here.

Ruthra and the doctor grinned.

– Now the next one, no less fantastic than our entire program. You may laugh at first, but I thought that everything happening on Earth was not conceived by us. We're not so bad, we're not completely stupid. Realistically why would we, for one thing, spend so much money creating weapons? Why create so many things that can destroy the world several times over? Why? After all, you can produce exactly enough to be enough for one time, and do not spend more. Although that's completely idiotic. Logically, weapons of mass destruction should destroy no more than 30 percent of humanity. But that's not enough, we want to kill all people, and with a 500-percent guarantee. Don't you think that's clearly not what people want? Don't you think that someone has put it in people's minds? It's not logical to create a weapon for defense that will kill you. Is it or isn't it?

– Yeah, I'm getting into it. I understand the logic. Now I need to figure out why we did it.