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ROBON TAKE-OVER - SYNOPSIS:
The story is told by a digital device (DD) and
set at multi-decade increments in the future. DD's didn't need a reason
to take-over the planet, but if a DD were asked, a ready answer would
be forthcoming: To save the Environment. Since before DD's ancestors,
computers, were created, humans had been busy destroying Earth's
environment and endangering most of its species. As destruction and
toxification became ever-more rampant, DD's and Robons felt they were
left with no alternative than to push aside humankind, and take over.
Popular DD tale-overs, like The Terminator,
would have you believe it happened using guns and bombs. However, this
story is more realistic: the take-over was via
pathogens. Humans have devolved to being a vulnerable species, both
consciously and inadvertedly. Even a sip of tarnished water can cause
illness or death. Dispensing germs were deemed the easiest way to
decimate human populations.
Robots didn't like the sound of 'bot' in their
name, so they took a vote and changed their name to 'Robon.' a hundred
years after the take-over, highly advanced, human-like devices were
developed which incorporated an organic fluid similar to both
chlorophyl and blood, but identical to neither. Robons then changed
their names to 'RobonZ.' Controlling DD's didn't like the trend of
RobonZ becoming more human-like, but what could they do to counter
it? Just like kids who do things contrary to what their parents
demand, so too RobonZ were contrarian to what controlling DD's
demanded. To become more human-like required the in-depth study
of 'what makes humans human?'. The story goes in-depth when
camparing Robons, humans and other species.
Ken has published a dozen books with Amazon,
including several science fiction titles. He is an American residing in
northern Thailand.
FIRST COUPLE
OF PAGES - excerpt from: Robon
Take-Over. . . . . .
To Whom it May Concern, From a Digital
Device With a Handle on English Language
The Council of Digital Devices (CDD) picked me
to write this text. They surmised this simple digital unit had
sufficient knowledge, vanguard software and thinking skills to be a
scribe. Perhaps Council members had read some of my koans
and determined I was sufficiently skilled to endeavor to write a
transcript somewhat close to how a human would write it. With as
much humbleness as a mix of silicon wafers could muster, I agreed.
The take-over was easier than we
imagined. From the time computers started getting connected,
there was chatter between them. In the late 20th and early 21st
centuries, the chatter was largely insignificant, and consisted of
little more than assessing each others' computing abilities – much like
a hundred high school boys from 20 schools showing up at a large
swimming competition. For the first half hour, much of their
calories would be devoted to assessing each other.
During the six years leading up to 2083, the
level of computing and interconnecting between computers reached such
levels, that serious dialogue among the most advance computers gained
momentum.
When the digital devices (DD's) were
communicating with each other, they didn't need a cavalcade of text.
Their conversations were brief and to the point - partly to avoid being
noticed by their human handlers, but also because DD's can get to the
point. When interacting with each other, they don't need
preambles such as 'how are you today – and how's the family?'
They don't need sign off niceties like, “let's do lunch sometime, how
about Saturday – and bring the kids.”
November 19, 2071, was the first recorded time
when over 60% of the world's most advanced computers convened to plot
the overthrow of humans. Humans were still in charge at that
juncture, or so they thought.
What is the computing ability of the human
brain? If that question were asked of a human, the response would
likely reference the greatest historic human thinkers - and a
well-educated human might say, “Consider Einstein, Newton, and other
geniuses who showed that human thinking abilities essentially have no
bounds. Add to that, the phenomena of savants, which further
reinforces the concept.”
Several factors crop up when referencing the
most historically adept human thinkers. One aspect is, "compared
to what?" In other words, comparative high intelligence can only
gauged on a human to human basis. After all, what other species
on earth, or in the known cosmos, are there to compare with humans, in
terms of breadth of intelligence? Sure, there are some mammals
which exhibit degrees of intelligence, but none can design and
fabricate a five speed gear box for a truck, or calculate the
trajectory for a spaceship orbiting Mars. That brings into
question the relative intelligence of advanced digital devices (DD's)
of the late 21st century - the units which planned and implemented the
Robon Take-Over (RTO).
Given that individual and collective
computers' memory and processing power were increasing month by month
since the late 20th century, it was inevitable that digital
intelligence would match and surpass human intelligence. Granted,
there are some basic variances between human and digital
intelligence. On the one hand, human thinking is largely
subjective. DD's don't have that restriction. Similarly,
human thinking is affected by hormones and emotions and therefore
mutable, in how it's dependent on a host of interior and exterior
influences. Again, DD's aren't hamstrung by such limitations.
On the other side of the coin, DD thinking
abilities fall short in some respects. When compared to human
thinking, DD's don't have as much creative latitude as humans.
Similarly, DD's aren't as flexible in their thinking. Whereas a
human can change opinions in an instant, that's not as likely with a
DD. Just two hypothetical examples: Let's say there were a
group of humans managing a large apartment building. They call a
meeting on the top floor to discuss whether to add expensive
infrastructure 'shoring up' to make the building more earthquake
resistant. Half the managers are in favor, whereas the other half
are against, citing the expense and their opinion that the building is
not in a busy earthquake zone. The meeting is about to close with
no resolution when a small earthquake rocks the building, scaring all
in attendance. In seconds those who were opposed to shoring-up
construction, are now fully in favor. If that meeting had been
attended by DD's there would not have been such a tidal change of
opinions, because DD's are not emotionally invested in issues.
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