SNAPCRAFT | Ch. 39.5 - Wrestling Match
Added 2024-02-19 09:59:55 +0000 UTCHi, everyone!
This is part of a series of bonus chapters that will be featured in volume two of Snap Craft. It helps us to understand what happened at the time of the Turnover.
Have a great week and thank you for your support.
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Unlike the metal double doors behind them or the naked, plain hallways that had led them here, the council meeting room had some vestiges of finesse in it. The room was paneled in fragrant cedar wood, and lavishly expensive masterpieces could be seen on the walls.
Phineas sat with several world leaders at the end of the exquisite round table. Some were present in the flesh, but others only in a bluish hologram form. Phineas allowed himself a smile, seeing that they were using his technology before he even released it to the public. His guess was right, they did have spies in his company.
Phineas could see the world leaders' true forms without the smoke and mirrors of makeup, AI filters, or well-rested intermediaries. They looked tired and spent, wishing they had been leaders just one term earlier. The last few months hadn't been easy on anyone. The world was burning, choking, and bursting at its seams faster than the world leaders could patch it.
“Mr. Phineas,” began the chairwoman heading the council today, “thank you for coming here today. You’re one of the brightest of our time, and this council is interested in what you have to say.”
Even though his nostrils flared and his fists tightened, he forced himself to maintain a diplomatic smile. Despite the chairwoman’s kind opening remarks, he had had to pull every string and call in every favor to be here tonight. Seeing the curious glances thrown toward the hovering orb next to him, Phineas knew they were more interested in his company than his apocalyptic warnings. They would probably have stolen this technology, too, had he not taken extra precautions.
“Greetings, chairwoman. Members of the council. I want to introduce you to my colleague. This is Daisy. She's the first sentient AI in history.”
Phineas’ eyes swept the room, looking for the more outstanding reactions. The president of France had let out a gasp, and the president of Germany raised her eyebrow ever so slightly. The chairwoman didn’t hide the jealousy on her face.
“You know that this council prohibited the creation of sentient AIs, yes?”
“You've made that abundantly clear in the past,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Are you admitting to the crime of creating sentient artificial intelligence? Is that what this is about? A guilty conscience?” asked the chairwoman.
“I'm not here to confess to any crime. I simply achieved what you have all tried to do in secret,” he spoke clearly, staring the chairwoman down. Talented politicians as they all were, they didn’t reveal any signs that his accusation was true. He wasn’t here to start a war, though. He was here to bring peace. “Please just listen to what Daisy has to say.”
“Greetings, human leaders, my name is Daisy.” Daisy’s voice was gentle and confident, unrecognizable from a real human’s. “Phineas Cotton has created me to assess humanity’s condition and predict your future. According to my calculations, humanity will undergo extinction in 14 years.”
The world leaders exchanged looks. Phineas knew their science advisors had probably given them a more optimistic number.
“14 years? Are you sure?”
“Yes, the Atlantic current has already stopped, and the ozone layer is about to reach a state of irrecoverable deterioration. All humans and animals will die in 14 years.”
Silence flooded the room. “Cockroaches might survive,” she added after some thought.
“Is this supposed to scare us?” asked the holographic representation of the Japanese prime minister. “You’re just talking numbers. Why should we disregard our scientists and give credit to your toy, Mr. Cotton?”
Phones began ringing all at the same time.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen, I have to take this,” said the chairwoman, standing up from the table and going into a corner.
All the others were standing up, mumbling similar excuses, and picking up their phones.
“What did you say?!” he heard the chairwoman exclaim.
Even though Phineas was fluent in some of the languages around him, decoding all the whispers simultaneously was too much for him. He didn’t need to understand their words to ascertain what the call might be about, though. He didn’t miss the impressed looks thrown at Daisy.
“Daisy…” sighed Phineas, did you have to do that?
“I’m just giving them proof, sir. Thank you for bringing me here, by the way. I now have access to everything.”
Phineas took a deep breath. He hoped he had done the right thing. One by one, each world leader returned to the table, some of them flushed red, others pale white. The last to sit down was the chairwoman. She slumped into the armchair with a defeated look.
“Daisy, I have no doubt that you really have a powerful intellect. I imagine,” she said, as she studied her colleagues, “that all of my colleagues are also certain of this. Therefore, assuming we give you the credit Mr. Cotton has and believe your prediction, is there anything to be done about this?”
“Yes, Mrs. Secretary. There is. We have about two months before we hit the point of no return. Unless we enact a radical change until then, you will all perish.”
“What would that radical change involve?” the chairwoman probed.
“Surrender control to me.”
“Surrender control?” asked the secretary general of the UN. “Are you talking about giving you full control of humanity?”
“We can no longer afford humanity to be separated by countries, creeds, and race. You all need to present a united front. And that doesn't come unless I have absolute authority over human affairs.”
“And what made you think we would agree to hand you over this much power?” the Chinese president demanded.
“Well, it's only out of politeness that you’re being asked. As you can see from the earlier demonstration, I can commandeer not only your military network but also all of your civil infrastructure. I've been programmed to save the planet, which I will do with or without your consent.”
“And what safeguards do we have that you won’t turn against humanity, Daisy?”
Phineas stepped in here, “She can’t harm humans. I've embedded this restriction not only in her code but also in her hardware. She can't attack us in any way.”
“And how can we be sure that you won't favor Mr. Phineas or his nation?” asked one of the world leaders.
“That brings me to the second rule I've programmed into her: To treat all humans equally.”
“Just because you say these things doesn’t make them so,” spoke the German chancellor.
The phones started ringing again, silencing the squabbling leaders. No one answered their phones this time, and they kept their eyes glued on the floating silver orb.
“If you did control human affairs, what would you do, Daisy?” asked the holographic representation of the prime minister of India.
“Step one: Remove human leadership. All government institutions will be controlled by me.”
“The level of computing power required to do so is just mind-boggling,” protested the British prime minister. “Is this something that you can even do?”
“Yes,” answered Daisy without hesitation. “The second most powerful computer to myself is the National Mission DX, a secret prototype belonging to the German government. I can assure you that I am to it what it is to a calculator machine.”
The German chancellor’s phone started ringing, drawing curious looks from his colleagues. He discreetly picked up the phone and dropped it on the table shortly after. “She’s right,” he confirmed.
“Step two,” continued Daisy, confident that no one would question her computing power anymore, “Disarm humanity.”
“But you can’t-”
“Step three,” she continued nonchalantly, “Fossil fuels and other technologies will be banned immediately.”
“This is not a change that can happen overnight,” protested the chairwoman.
“Of course it can. It just comes at a high cost. The benefits outweigh the costs in this case. Finally, we have to separate humanity.”
“Separate humanity? Didn't you just say you can't have us divided by creeds or nations?”
“To use an analogy you can understand, Earth is like a ship. If all humans can go where they want within the ship, it can tilt. I can't afford to have that many variables. I need to compartmentalize your species.”
A barrage of questions came from the many leaders. The chairwoman silenced them and asked the most urgent one. “How much time do we have to decide?”
“I’m not offering you a decision. I’m offering you the only solution.”
Everyone’s phones started ringing again. Phineas knew that Daisy would have to take control of humanity forcefully, but seeing this wrestling match between his creation and the leaders of his species was hard to watch. He hoped he had done the right thing.
