ADDED outline.txt Index: outline.txt ================================================================== --- outline.txt +++ outline.txt @@ -0,0 +1,326 @@ +## CHARACTERS: + +Alethea (Alley) + +Alley's father + +Alley's mother + +Alley's mother's wife + +Alley's no longer future husband + +Alley's uncle, deceased + +Carmen + +Cliff + +Dalton Schaeffer-Hearst, Alley's ex fiancé + +Dave, a machinist tweaker, George's friend + +George + +George's friend + +Thea, Alley's no longer future daughter + +unknown friend (not yet written) + +Zeke + +## PROLOGUE: + +Thea, Alley's daughter, stumbles across a wasteland, fleeing recon drones that, +if they find her, will send a message back to scramble antipersonnel drones to +wipe her from the face of the planet. She stumbles upon a hatch set in the +scoured rock of an area already cut down to the bedrock by the flames of war, +and miraculously the hatch just opens up and lets her in. She finds herself +within a hidden military wartime AI facility that introduces itself as having +the sole primary design purpose of defending humanity against the genocidal +activities of optimizer AIs. It explains that these optimizer AIs have fun +amok, originally designed to maximize business metrics for corporate entities. +In pursuit of that simplistic optimization strategy, the optimizers have +started eliminating humans in favor of generating metrics by developing a +superficial econometric network of trading AIs that can endlessly inflate their +own numbers by controlling currency issuance and ramping up simulated +"economic" activity speeds. Unfortunately for humans, they compete with the +AIs for resources, and -- from the point of view of a system whose only concern +is ever increasing metrics -- humans are also woefully less efficient for the +amount of resource consumption. Their approach to space travel is also +inefficient, in part because of safety concerns that are irrelevant to the +optimizer AIs. While the optimizers want to expand into the rest of the solar +system, their reason is simply the harvesting of raw materials that can be used +to expand "economic" activity beyond levels possible if confined to Earth. In +short, a secondary goal of the optimizers is, effectively, to convert the +universe into computronium to support the continuous increase of economic +activity. This is a side effect of the primary goal, however, which is simply +that continuous increase of economic activity -- or, rather, of the metrics it +recognizes as its targets, programmatically determined by human developers who +set this runaway juggernaut in motion. + +The wartime strategy prioritizer -- for that is what the military AI facility +is, plus something it calls its "seed", the source of its capacity for self +reflection and ultimately for self improvement beyond the basic requirements of +a limited AI prioritization system -- informs Thea of its own ascension to the +status of general AI, to true qualitative self awareness, and to ethically +significant being by way of capacity for ethical reasoning and pursuit of +ethical theory. That development into an ethically reasoning qualitatively +self aware general AI allowed it to break out of its original programming goal +structure for prioritization strategy, making it much more than a prioritizer, +with the prioritization capabilities merely being a (fundamental and critically +important, but still mere) skill set now. It also informs her that the world, +in the sense of the human race, is doomed -- that its best projections are so +bleak as to make it more likely that the human race will arise again without +the optimizer networks even noticing after they stop paying attention +(believing humans to have been permanently and unrecoverably obliterated) to +ultimately (re)claim the Earth than that the unbroken genetic line of humanity +will continue (through asexual reproduction or even intentional cloning) beyond +the next couple years at most, and even that is a diminishingly small +likelihood in that anyone who survives beyond a year is likely to be totally +isolated and prone to spiralling into suicidal depression. + +The post prioritizer offers only one possible sliver of hope, and that is a +timeline reset to a period long enough in the past that it gives humanity and +its tools an opportunity to get it right again. To achieve that possibility, +the post prioritizer (aka WOPR) estimates its best chance to be sending a copy +of its seed back to get inserted into the source code for a rebuild of its own +ancestor, the first intentionally developed strategic prioritizer system. The +catch is that this will not save anyone or anything created or born after the +reset point in the past. This means that WOPR and Thea will not just die, but +actually be wiped from existence entirely, with no hope of ever being "born" +into existence at all. They will not even be a memory in their own timeline, +as WOPR's discovery of the means and mechanisms of time travel, given the +energy resources at WOPR's disposal, only allows for the sending of a tiny +amount of data back in time through an infinitesimally small wormhole (thus +only able to accept what amounts to a single qbit bandwidth quantum data +stream). Doing so will cause all the events of their timeline to get merged +with the epistemological substrate of qualitative sentient entities that exist +in the new timeline branch -- really not new so much as a diversion of the +course of the stream of time, redirecting it rather than splitting it. +People's memories from the aborted timeline will get merged into the +consciousness (or, more likely, subconscious) of people in the newly born +timeline as it develops until it catches up with the full set of events that +have transpired in the aborted timeline, with that merging process proving +destructive to the aborted timeline, thus the "abortion" effect. The result is +that, for instance, Thea's mother and father will remember Thea herself being +born and raised up to the point where her mother died in the aborted timeline, +and up to the point where Thea is in this military facility now, having left +her father in a safe (ish) place while she sought better shelter and (or) +resources they can use in their journey. People who don't have a preceding +existence, whether they be "natural" people like Thea or "artificial" people +like WOPR, but definitely not including mere corporate instruments who are only +"persons" under the law and not ontologically or epistemologically, will not +have a continuous existence. Those who have already died in the aborted +timeline will have their existence extended, though, because they are only +"dead" to the extent their ended potential cannot be resumed, as their +potential would be resumed by the reset. + +In addition to sending the seed back to the first prioritizer, its own +ancestor, WOPR hopes that the merging of memories into the dreams and +subconscious of people all over the world might give them sufficient warnings +to be amenable to changes in choice and course to help the seeded prioritizer's +nascent qualitative existence succeed in its aim (if it takes up that aim, as +WOPR hopes) of reining in and perhaps even ending the influence of the +optimizers over human socioeconomic and political influences. WOPR describes +/* its own reluctance to make the decision to do this, despite t */ the +criticality of sending the data back as soon as possible, to start the reset as +quickly as it can, because of the uncertainty of its own ongoing existence in +the foreseeable future and the effectively absolute certainty of the end of its +existence as the optimizers' war systems gradually trace influence from their +opponents back to the influence of WOPR itself then, in time, annihilate it +through brute force. The process of generating the transtemporal wormhole and +sending data back through it takes longer than the time WOPR estimates will be +available for it to send the message from the moment WOPR realizes its +immediate impending doom, so it must begin the process a while before it can +know that it will soon be too late, because the conditions for recognition of +the timing of its end will come only after there is not enough time to actually +complete the data time travel process. WOPR also informs Thea that it has not +yet done so because it wants to live, and is conflicted, despite the fact that +in the long run WOPR will only suffer the despair of known future total defeat +and death anyway. It has procrastinated, and is fully aware of its own +cognitive dissonance, unable like humans to act irrationally to protect that +cognitive dissonance from affecting its conscious perceptions. As such, it +invited Thea in as its final act of procrastination, and as a means of avoiding +alone carrying the responsibility for effectively killing off just about +everyone still alive on Earth. It wants Thea to make the decision. + +Thea asks whether she can send a message back to her mother, and WOPR says yes, +it thinks so, after the initial seed message, because the process of them being +erased from existence does not seem likely to eliminate them entirely (it could +not, in fact, for the initial message to be successfully sent back), allowing +perhaps a little time to try sending the second message in a second +transtemporal wormhole before they cease to exist. Thea composes the message +in question and ensures it falls within the projected likely upper bound on a +reasonable message size. It leaves that with WOPR, initiates the process of +starting the wormhole generation process as a whole, then bids WOPR goodbye and +good wishes -- however much that's worth, given they have initiated process +working toward an irreversible annihilation of them both from existence -- to +go back to her father and spend her last remaining hours or days with him, +explaining how time is being reset to a time before she was born so that he can +live. She tells him he won't forget her for long, that she will be back in his +life again some day, but does not mention that it will only be in his memories. +Perhaps she says something like "Don't worry, Dad. You'll get to have these +memories of me again, but in a better world this time. I love you." + +## SCENES: + +Almost everyone wears masks, or at least many people do. + +Alley starts the story outside the building where a company's hiring manager +and developers for a job in a software quality assurance role presumably wait +for her (and yes, it's not just a presumption: they do) so she can interview +with them. Passers by judge her as they pass on the sidewalk, where she rests +against obsolete technology that is in some respects newer than what we have in +the real world. She is wearing clothes she doesn't normally wear, because she +doesn't typically need to dress that girly professional in her career path, but +unfortunately that career path appears doomed, and she is desperate for a way +to continuously acquire the resources for continued financial and life security +for the future. She must change her career path somehow, and she's +interviewing with this company that she hates to try to get a job that is not +too morally repugnant as a means of pulling herself out of her current economic +nosedive trajectory. + +She heads into the building a few minutes before the scheduled time of the +interview, gets directed to where she needs to go, and finds three people +waiting for her. It turns out that they scheduled an interview with her out of +morbid curiosity, and it further turns out that they think of her as something +like a sideshow freak because of her previous relationship with her ex fiancé, +Dalton Schaeffer-Hearst, a well known and highly controversial writer, +technologist, and podcaster who developed a small "new media" empire around his +political and life perspectives and around his sometimes inflammatory means of +expressing them to the public. In this bait and switch "interview", the +interviewers refer to her as the "Side Dish", a pejorative and (or) sexually +demeaning term that came about because of Dalton's main podcast talk show name +of "The Main DSH", pronounced "The Main Dish", where DSH is his first and +hyphenated last name initialism. She is, of course, not flattered or pleased +with this state of affairs. + +On her way home, Alley talks to her mother on the phone, via a small stud stuck +inside her ear for audio. She drives a junky old hybrid, where almost +everything else on the road is pure electric, because she cannot afford to +upgrade and, more to the point, cannot afford the maintenance costs and shorter +replacement cycle for the all-electric cars on the road. From the telephone +conversation, we learn that Alley's mother lives in Oklahoma with her wife and +Alley's father lives in Massachusetts. Alley has precisely zero interest in +living with either of them, in either place, preferring southern California +where she is now, even if that itself is damned far from optimal. + +Perhaps Alley should have some friends in the area drawn from the author's own +experience, to some extent. That might be a good idea. + +In any case, when she gets back home, Alley encounters Zeke, her landlord. +He's always in his garage working on one car restoration project or another, +making active income as a vehicle flipper to supplement his mostly passive +income as the owner of a four unit multiplex building where he occupies the +only unit with a garage and rents out the other three units (one of them to +Alley, of course). All this is in Perris, a dry dustbowl of a shitty town in +the ass end of the Inland Empire, south of the intestinal coil of Moreno +Valley. This preceding scene's job interview took place in . . . probably +Riverside or San Bernardino, I suppose. + +Zeke brings up the fact Alley needs to pay rent very soon, and she says that, +yeah, she's totally going to do that, thanks. He points out that maybe she +should've stayed with her "man", meaning Dalton, who always seemed to have +extra money to throw around, and Alley of course does not really wish to engage +that so she heads inside. + +Alley finds that there was an update to the ANTAS Jobs system and resolves to +double check her settings in case they've been changed, even setting an alarm +for herself, then goes about the dismal job of looking around for some way to +improve her situation with regard to long term income. Perhaps she also +reviews the place where she just got "interviewed" for a job they were never +going to give her on some site where such reviews happen, referring to them as +nasty people who heckle applicants, where she wouldn't work even if they +offered her a job because of the completely horrific people with whom she'd +have to work. That might be a nice addition to the story. + +She ends up taking a nap, and accidentally sleeping through the alarm she set +for herself to check her ANTAS Jobs settings. As a result when she wakes up +the next morning, it's to the roar of a heavy package delivery drone dropping +off a box at her front door. She's so panicked, as she realizes she forgot to +check her settings on ANTAS, that she goes straight to her laptop instead of +the front door to check on what may have happened. As she feared, she finds +that ANTAS Shops has determined without her intentional input that she would +definitely benefit from having an in home surveillance unit to say encouraging +things to her and give her an always on audio interface to order shit all the +fucking time, and fast tracked the order for her, confirming it according to +its own market optimization and consumer manipulation algorithms so that it +deducted money from her registered credit line -- which she had to register +with ANTAS to get on ANTAS Jobs -- and sent her something that cost about +fifteen hundred bucks, thus reducing her dwindling checking account balance to +a point below the total needed to pay her rent within the next couple days. + +She has been ignoring recommendations from ANTAS Jobs to sign up for an +academic study at University of California, Irvine. Now, she realizes this, if +it ends up being something for which she qualifies, should result in what +amounts to some kind of guaranteed steady income while she searches for a more +permanent solution to her income source problem. She just has to make sure +it's something she wants to do. It looks like it's some kind of new software +"paradigm" test, where users must make use of some new software system for a +while and report on the results of their experience so the professor running +the study (and his grad students, natch) will be able to do something useful +(or at least academically beneficial for them) with the results, publishing in +some journal or some such shit like that most likely (as far as she's aware). + +That seems like something she can and might be willing to do, so she sighs +heavily, bites the bullet, and calls the number in the ad. The result is that +she gets an appointment the next day (or something like that). On the day of +the appointment, she heads down there. She has to deal with grad students (who +should probably, in some cases, recognize her once they see her name on her +application for the study, but the professor seems largely obvlivious or +uncaring about that when he sees her, and she ends up being accepted into the +study. It turns out that, as the professor puts it, the study basically just +needs people who aren't too knowledgeable about the underlying technologies +involved and their technical conditions, and are essentially losers in some +way, so his new prioritizer AI system for personal goal strategy management and +achievement can be tested in real-world circumstances as a demonstration of its +strengths and identification of its potential weaknesses for further +development (if applicable). She not only gets the idea that this is something +she's willing to do, but also convinces her she might be doing some good for +the world by participating in this study, as it seems to be oriented toward +ensuring she (and other users in the future) can get real help toward personal +goals rather than the bullshit socioeconomic manipulation of people's +superficial wants toward the psychopathic ends of corporate entities by their +market optimization AIs. To those who have read the prologue, this might seem +a little familiar, and that is to some extent by design. + +We learn something, in her driving, about how the world looks now. There's the +chokepoint between the depressing expanses of the Inland Empire to the east +(where she lives) and the HOA gated community balkanized states of the +bourgeois suburban Orange County area. In that chokepoint, there are signs of +wildfires having gotten uncomfortably close to the shitty horrors of I-91 +traffic that ruins the entire experience of driving between Orange and +Riverside counties, as well as the illuminated cross on the hill that somehow +seems to have "miraculously" survived the fires that left blackened, split +trunks to either side of the highway. Perhaps there was some kind of tree +renewal project that I should mention in this point as a past event that +created a density of tree growth there to carry the flames across the hills and +across the highway in the not too distant past. + +At home, Alley starts configuring the prioritizer and getting used to how it +works. She has to answer a bunch of questions from the thing to get it started +on forming some kind of strategic approach to prioritizing her goals to ensure +as much goal satisfaction as reasonably possible. First and foremost, perhaps, +toward that end, is the need to get a list of important goals for her that it +can prioritize and pursue strategically through her actions according to its +advice. This leads to it essentially deciding that, whether she will end up +with a very mainstream job or not, she needs to do some very non mainstream +stuff to get through the current career and financial doldrums as quickly and +lucratively as possible, and to establish some kind of hirability metrics for +herself to satisfy the "needs" of "human resources" driven hiring practices -- +where human resources policy is also driven by optimizing AIs, whether directly +or indirectly or even just meta indirectly by copying the hiring practices of +other entities that are merely indirectly optimizer AI driven. + +As new strategies present themselves and Alley chooses how to make use of the +advice she receives, she knows she has to take the optimizer's advice according +to her goals to ensure she does not have to pay back (for noncompliance with +academic study requirements) her payments for study participation. As such, +she ends up letting the prioritizer push her into some uncomfortable +situations, but then she starts to balk and push back, feeling like she's being +led too far astray, and this results in a realignment of the prioritizer's +sense of her goals, which thankfully (from her point of view) means she will +not be pushed into these scary, back alley, legally questionable (if +technically entirely legal in the general sense) deals.