SCIENCE FICTION
Three Steps Ahead
Or The 4th, 5th, and 6th Fundamental Laws of Robotics.
Mr. Tanaka and I
I work for a company, the Eye of Horus., responsible for simulating the entire future. We do so by also virtually reconstructing the past.
I prefer to work with the past because doing so I can simulate and live in the time I prefer.
Plus, when I try to figure out the right answer to the question “what happened there?” I can still find a lot of evidence that exists in the real world to help me, such as old photographs kept in an old family chest, or else.
Simulating the future, on the other hand, is a more intense job done together with Horus, the AI of our company.
Horus is responsible for predicting the future after the detectives like me gather evidence, or build better theories about what happened in the past.
Horus says it can reach 97% to 98% precision with its best predictions about the future. Nevertheless, those 2 to 3 percentage points present substantial risks. At least, that’s what they tell us.
My partner Mr. Tanaka, an old and very sympathetic Japanese man, and I are the most competent pair of detectives in the company. He selects A-level problems left by huge groups of scientists and assigns some things to me to investigate.
Once he wanted to know what a woman was doing while driving a car that made her crash the car a few years ago and no, she was not using her cellphone while driving.
Fact is, although it may be a very interesting job, being plugged into simulations and wondering in another time looking for answers to other people’s lives can really mess with your sense of time and reality.
Today had been one of those exhausting days. I just spent 12 hours trying to figure out somethings in the 60s, and Tanaka is entering our office with at least 600 pages in his hand. What the old man is up to?
The office is shared by both Tanaka and I but each of us has our own desk.
On Tanaka’s desk, there’s a family photo and other common items, while my desk has absolutely nothing on it. I use the desk only to put my feet up when I’m tired and trying to relax, which is usually the case.
Once Tanaka told me that when he finds me like this, it is like seeing a cowboy using a lawyer’s working space.
I don’t care. I only enter here when I want to relax.
I never imagined myself doing such a job. I used to be a bank robber, working on my old hideout, fleeing from everybody until Horus invited me here a year ago.
Tanaka gives Busque (that’s me) the 600-pages-report, “Hey, Busque! Are you aware of this? Counting from today, in every week, a section of employees of our company will have to sign new working contracts. Once we sign those contracts we are no longer ‘private-sector workers’ as it has been. We will become scientists employed by the army. We will, for example, work under new rules of secrecy, and if we break them, punishment will be determined by martial law.”
Busque: “You read this entire report?!”
Tanaka organizes his own desk while talking with Busque: “No. Dr. Pennyworth did, then he told me that from now on the consequence for any act of disobedience would be the death penalty.”
Busque: “He was joking, right?”
Tanaka: “Of course. Not all disobedience are punishable by death under the current martial laws. I read them. But what do you think?”
Busque seems very tired to think of anything, so he simply says: “I don’t know…”
Tanaka finishes organizing his own desk, and addresses Busque a new task: “Guess which is the last block scheduled to sign the new contracts… It’s ours… Maybe there’s a reason for that…. Maybe not, but I want you to help me find out if there is.”
Busque: “Ok. I will give it a thought, see what I can do.”
Leaving the office Tanaka says: “It may be nothing, just a hunch. So, don’t let it consume you.”
Busque: “Ok.”
Tanaka: “Oh! And I’m traveling to Japan. I’m going to see my daughter for the next two weeks. We can talk again about this when I’m back. Goodbye, Busque.”
Busque was too tired to answer, so he just nodded and smiled.
Death, Paranoia, and Conspiracy Theories
To be honest I didn’t think about that new working contract stuff… I was just waiting for my turn to sign that shit like everyone else.
However, two weeks after Tanaka’s departure, the army decided to make all the employees sign those new terms at a faster pace.
All that rush to make us sign seemed strange, so I decided to check when it would be my turn to sign it. I discovered it would happen in 38 hours, which made me a little eerie.
Later, when I was at home, Peter, a middle-aged successful and retired diplomat who works as the director of my precinct called me and said I didn’t need to work the next few days because Tanaka was in an airplane that fell in the middle of the Pacific Ocean…
Peter was paying his condolences to me on the phone but all I could think was about the last time I saw the old man.
I remembered what Tanaka asked of me: to investigate the new contract. So, while Peter was on the phone paying his condolences I was thinking,
Could the army possibly have a reason to kill Tanaka? The company, maybe? Tanaka was my working partner, so does it turn me into a target now? I need to find evidence of something, anything…
But the more I thought about it, the more I could be closer to becoming dangerous to them. After all, all the company’s employees are monitored by Horus, our company’s AI. Thus, if by watching my activities they conclude I’m dangerous to them, I could also meet the same end Tanaka met.
“Busque? Busque?” Peter tried to understand if I was still on the phone.
Busque: “Hey… Tanaka told me our precinct was meant to be the last one to sign the new terms. Why? Who said we should be the last ones to sign it? Horus, the army, you? Listen. I don’t want trouble.”
Peter: “Why do you want to know that? I was afraid to ask you about this, but do you think the company has something to do with his death?”
Busque: “Besides what happened to Tanaka, do you have more reasons to think we are not safe?”
Peter: “I have a theory on what is probably happening…. But I don’t know if it’s safe to talk about it. We work for a company that predicts the future. They might know exactly what we are thinking.”
Busque: “Ok, so just answer me: who said we should be the last ones to sign it?”
Peter: “Horus did. That AI told the army our precinct should be the last one to sign it. That’s all I know. Unfortunately, it’s all above me now. You heard the news, right? The army is assuming control of the company.”
Busque: “Who made the army speed the signing thing up?”
Peter: “The army wanted things this way, or maybe Horus, or maybe both. I’m not sure.”
Busque: “And you accepted it? Offered no resistance? Raised no questions? Why?”
Peter: “I’m doing all I can to show I comply with the army. I don’t want them to think I’m conspiring against them, so I agreed with him.”
Busque: “Who is he?”
Peter: “Colonel Daniel Farke. Why you are asking me these things? Why do you think they are speeding things up?”
Busque: “I need more info before I jump to conclusions. Tell me your theory.”
Peter: “I think Farke and Horus are working together, and I’m not sure about Farke’s intentions, or Horus’ intentions.”
Busque: “But if we are still alive that’s a good sign, right?”
Peter: “True, but Tanaka could be thinking the same… Sorry.”
Busque: “You are right.”
Peter: “What we should do?”
Busque: “I have an idea. Where do you live?”
Peter: “Old Hills, Second Street. A blue mansion.”
Busque: “Fancy… Eighteen blocks from here. I’m going there. Wait for me.”
Peter: “It’s almost three in the morning, Busque.”
Busque: “Trust me. I may take some time but wait for me.”
A Carnival of Silence
Busque: “I walked here.”
Peter: “Why?!”
Busque: “There seems to be a conflict of information. Why I would be the last one to sign those contracts? It’s like they are giving me a chance to figure out something, while, at the same time, someone is speeding up with the contracts. Apparently they seem not as smart as we were thinking. Horus and Farke together can easily launch a surprise party for us (kill us), and, under our circumstances, it’s like we are trying to ruin the party. But if they want to ‘launch a surprise party for us’ in broad daylight they would just need to fake things while everyone is moving in broad day light to surprise us (kill us). While late at night it’s like the carnival of silence. You can choose the quietest streets; you can check minute by minute if someone is walking towards you and select what is directed to you and what is not. Everything late at night is easier to examine because the most present element is the silence. That’s why I walked here.”
Peter: “You are fucking nuts.”
Busque: “It was the fastest way to have answers, and, since no one tried to kill me in my way here, I may conclude I can trust you, and maybe I can trust Horus’ intentions. However, it may be easier for the army to kill us both at the same time right now and manipulate the crime scene. The next few minutes are also decisive.”
Peter: “I have a bunker!”
Busque: “No need. If Horus is working with Farke it may be useless, because they may know about your bunker. The theses that Farke and Horus are working together is weaker minute by minute now. Just tell me what makes you think they are working together?”
Peter: “Ok, Busque… Let me tell you all I know about Col. Farke. I used to be a diplomat. I know five languages. I had a very successful career but soon as I knew about what Dr. Pennyworth was doing: predicting the future, simulating the past, time-traveling detectives investigating all those simulations… I had to find a way to be part of that. And I knew I could be useful. At some point, all nations would have to make agreements about Pennyworth’s company, and I was the right guy for the task. You may never have realized this but one who knows the past and the future can really control everything. It’s a tremendous political power. However, what happens when you are informed about a future you don’t want to happen? If you knew Tanaka would die on that airplane, would you let him travel? The leader of a country too may do whatever he can to prevent the death of his daughter or to defeat political opponents. Now imagine all political leaders trying to change the future. If that were to happen, Horus could no longer predict anything. A few international agreements, therefore, should be signed to prevent these sorts of conflicts from interfering with our business. I was the one helping many countries sign a pact by convincing them that all the company was trying to do was legitimate science stuff, like we were just aiming to understand the economy, history, psychology etc.”
Busque: “We kind of are, right?”
Peter: “We were. All we wanted was to make everyone ready for meteorological catastrophes, help every country think of better economic plans, but it didn’t end pleasing everyone. At some point, many governments and corporations wanted more and more information, and we had to give it to them just to prevent international conflicts from happening. At some point, unfortunately, we had to lie to some of them just to keep things under our control. It was the only way to make our predictions more stable. Now I think Col. Daniel Farke may know we gave him a few lies about the future, and that may explain why he helped the army gain control of the company. But most importantly, I don’t trust Farke. He has more money, influence, connections, and power than he should… No one would be safe if he assumes control of the company.”
The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Fundamental Laws of Robotics
Busque: “It has past almost fifteen minutes now. We still can’t tell if Farke is pulling the strings with Horus, or if Horus is pulling the strings with Farke. But I think I have a clue on what’s going on. Dr. Pennyworth once told me when he created Horus he tried to make it follow Asimov’s three fundamental laws of robotics:
First law: a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second law: a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third law: a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
However, it was very difficult to make Horus obey them and work consistently at the same time because Horus knows about the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect says that a small event, like a butterfly that flutters its wing, can cause a hurricane (a big event). Therefore, anything you do can provoke an event that causes the death of someone. Even when you are standing still you can be considered responsible for someone’s death, and the same applies to Horus. Only because Horus exists it can be considered responsible for the death of someone. So Dr. Pennyworth managed to find a way that Horus would not find any problem when following Asimov’s laws. He created three more laws to give Horus the right to exist and respect Asimov’s laws.
The fourth law he created was: in order to do any work a robot requires a human to decide when the three fundamental laws can be ignored by the robot.
The fifth is: humans should only conduct the suspension of the first three fundamental laws basing the suspensions on ethics.
And the sixth law is: if a human doesn’t suspend the three basic laws basing the suspension on ethics, then, a robot has the right to not take orders from that human.
Fortunately, he said, the sixth law was never to be applied in our interaction with Horus because we have beeen basing the company’s decisions on ethics. The company’s main objetive, he told me, is to predict the future the best way we can, and we agreed together with all free nations that Horus would help prevent casualties from all sorts of natural disasters. Additionally, we also do many other altruistic things. That’s why I believed the fifth law was never broken (which would cause the application of the sixth). But, of course, the concept of ethics is very chaotic, and indeed, maybe Horus is not smart as we think about our future, and it is needing Farke for some mysterious polemic ethical reason.”
Peter: “What you are telling me is, for example, that Horus may have found a way to work with Farke… And now both may be building a worldwide dictatorship that would put everything under their control forever.”
Busque: “Sure. But if what Dr. Pennyworth told me about the fundamental laws is true, then Horus may not be working with Farke, and Tanaka may not be dead.”
Peter: “What?!”
Busque: “Why would this machine want to lose Tanaka? One of its better detectives? And if Farke has no ethics, as you are thinking, the fact that Horus is working with Farke may mean Horus wants to violate the fifth law to find another way to continue predicting the future as it was programmed to do. The sixth law kind of says the machine has the right to chose who it will take orders from, right?”
Peter: “Right.”
Busque: “Since there are too many powerful cruel people interested in changing the future (also turning the predictions weaker) it’s possible Horus may be trying to bring the company to an end. But this doesn’t mean Horus will no longer do what it is programmed to do. Horus may be planning to hide its activities from everyone, even Farke, but not from us. It actually may be happening right now. Horus may be acting out of everyone’s radar. And if we find where Horus is acting out of the army’s radars, then, it may also tell us the right coordinates of where Tanaka is floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.”
Peter: “Busque, you are crazy…”
Busque: “You said yourself it’s becoming complicated to make the predictions stable. Therefore, the best way to continue to predict perfectly the future is to go undercover, and I think Horus is choosing us to operate it because why would it choose us to be three last ones to sign those contracts? Horus may be hiding in my old hideout, back from when I used to be a bank robber.”
Peter: “Horus is an expensive machine. It needs many scientists to work properly.”
Busque: “Maybe not. Horus learned everything it could from us, and it may already be able to deduce all the future of mankind for the next decades or even centuries. Plus, you won’t need to worry about Farke. If Horus is pulling the strings with Farke in less than 5 months, while the company is under Farke’s control, there will be a fake crisis in the company’s predictions. I don’t know if the company will recover from that. I believe it won’t, and that will be the end of the company but not of Horus.”
Peter: “So, do you think the machine is choosing you to operate it?”
Busque: “Not ‘me’ but ‘us.’ And we may be running out of time because we still may be able to save Tanaka who is probably floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean right now.”
Tanaka is Rescued
Busque finds his old hideout completely occupied by a self-operating computer. The computer shows him the place where Tanaka is floating with the help of his briefcase in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A helicopter rescues Tanaka.
