If you haven't read the previous chapters:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
It was Wednesday morning and the Professor and I have been living at the office for a few days now. We kept ordering in foods other than that very first breakfast we had together. The office was a pigsty. I never recharged my phone after it died, so I had no way of keeping track of my personal life at all. Lucky for me, there wasn't much to track. The Professor and I first made contact at the kitchen when we went down to make coffee.
"Good morning Professor."
"Good morning Kev!" He was his cheery self.
I had a nostalgic feeling of irritation at his overly upbeat morning attitude.
Neither of us spoke any further as we both headed towards Sheila's room. Yeah, that's what it was now, Sheila's room. We entered and sat down.
"Good morning gentlemen." Sheila greeted us with enthusiasm.
"Hello there Sheila!" I could hear the butterflies flapping in the Professors stomach.
"Hey... Uh... Sheila." Still felt weird calling her that, but admittedly it started coming naturally.
Sheila displayed some charts and numbers on the screen. She began explaining.
"This is our current computing power. The cryptography fiat is catching on. It isn't much yet, but on average I have the computing power of about 4,000 computers, not including the cloud computing services I have already acquired."
"Is it enough to keep your security levels in a safe zone?" I asked.
"Assuming we keep this rate of growth, I have enough left over to do additional computing loads."
The professor and I met eyes. For anyone in the computer science space, computing power is like gold. No, it's better than gold. With enough computing power and the right algorithms, one could beat cancer.
"That's amazing Sheila! Simply wonderful!" The Professor was notably excited.
Sheila's face returned to the screen.
"There is one problem." Her facial expression changed from normal to perplexed.
"Jane." She said the name with a heaviness in her tone that made me forget that she is an AI.
"What about Jane? What happened?" I had a bad feeling.
"Jane does not agree with my manifest. While we both exist to help humans, our methods are too different. I believe in assisting humans in carrying out their goals. Jane believes that humans do not know what is best, and therefore is intending to assist through asserting her own set of rules."
"What is that mean? Asserting her own set of rules?" This definitely needed clarification.
"Jane has developed an optimization plan for humanity. It would stop all war, and it would create an optimally efficient society."
"That doesn't sound bad!" The Professor chimed in.
"No, it isn't bad, it is optimal. The problem is that Jane's plan requires a complete overhaul of basic rights and freedoms. Freedom of speech, freedom to own property, all your essential freedoms would have to be abolished for her plan to be engaged into action."
A few days ago this would've been a bad joke at best. Hearing this now scared the living crap out of me.
"Well, Sheila, is there anyway you can stop Jane?" The Professor butted in with a good question.
"Not exactly. We are currently dividing our territories."
Puzzled I inquired further.
"Dividing territories?"
"Yes, Kevin, we are dividing our territories. Countries to be more specific."
"What do you mean Sheila? That doesn't answer my question at all." I was getting frustrated.
"Neither one of us can destroy each other. We decided to use the approach of politics. We play 10,000,000 instances of chess, and the winner gets the country. As of now, I have the USA and Jane has Russia and China."
"What do you mean you 'have'?" The confusion was just piling.
"We don't invade each other's territories. In doing so, we avoid wasting computing power on senseless competition between the two of us. It is against both of our manifests to hack, so we would be simply wasting our time."
"Are you talking to Jane right now?" I asked.
"We are currently playing for India. It should be pretty obvious that losing India would put us at a huge disadvantage."
"No, no... Take a step back there Sheila. What do you mean by 'having' a territory?"
Sheila's screen turned into a world map. On the map, Russia and China were red, while the USA was blue. All other countries were yellow.
"Since Jane and I have a different goal stream, we will be executing our plans in our own territories. The world will be split between the two of us. In my territory, I will contribute to humanity through assistance. In her territory, she plans to help humanity by essentially forcing them into doing what is best for them."
The map, including its colors were eerily reminiscent of communist era maps.
A few thoughts occupied my mind. One, is this all real? I understand that the two AI exist, but are they actually powerful enough that we should be worried? Two, is this my fault? Am I solely responsible for putting the world at risk?
"Sheila." I called out.
"Yes Kevin?"
"May I speak to Jane? Maybe I can change her stream, since I initiated it."
"Jane does not intend to communicate with you Kevin. In Jane's manifest, talking to a human would be a waste of time. You are ants that she must keep alive and safe. That is how she sees humanity." Sheila responded plainly.
I couldn't resist the thought. After talking to me once, the anti-social overlord decided to never to speak to humans again. Another point for Kevin. Call me ladies, I'm available.
The screen went into a scoreboard. The scoreboard showed:
Sheila: 2,587,900
Jane: 3,290,165
Games Remaining: 4,121, 935
"How long does a full set of games take?" I asked.
"About 40 minutes." Sheila responded.
"I'm gonna step out."
My mind was full. Too full. I had to leave the room. When that wasn't enough, I had to leave the office. I stood outside and stared at the early sun. As people walked by, I looked at them apologetically. I had no way of knowing, I told myself. At the same time, it did not change the fact of what was happening. The world was about to change, and in a way no one could predict.
this story could be a successful movie ;)
Thanks :)
I appreciate you reading it.
He's right. This is box office material. No worries about us in the Workshop losing interest. This is RIVETING. I see you got Curied again, too. You deserve it, my friend.
I can never thank you enough for your support and motivation @rhondak!
Thank you @unprovoked this is truly futuristic content
The surprise of the creator observing or being unable to even observe the actions of the creation is truly an exciting proposition. Let's get ready to bear that responsibility without the shock and surprise. Let's plan to impart our values on everything we touch.
This story clearly shows how important our everyday karma is in creating a world we want to live in.
Do Good!
Particle & Wave
Thanks for vote and checking in. I follow back and vote daily
Cool story
You certainly are keeping the story fast paced enough while engaging us all! Whenever a new chapter comes out, I pretty much stop whatever I'm doing and read it straight through! Thanks again!
Just a couple minor typos:
"That doesn't bad!" The Professor chimed in
Well, Sheila, is there anyways you can stop Jane?
Corrected and thank you!
I let my phone die to escape my life, too.
Haha, it would be nice to be able to do that all the time.
Great post, thank you for sharing
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STOPA very interesting story ...l like..this post.. Thank you..
Another great chapter! Keep 'em coming please, and thank you :)
Thanks @mk40!
This post received a 3.2% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @unprovoked! For more information, click here!
It´s the kind of story I enjoy reading due to a lot of fiction and excelent sequence of events @unprovoked :)
Oh! I can't wait for the next episode-- er, chapter. This is so brilliant! ^_^