2064 E-Book

Heinz Albert Brühl

• Herausgeber: novum publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 209

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

This is the year 2064! 80 years have passed and the utopia of the future is now a reality. Large screens are mounted everywhere, connected to the "All-of-us" program, which regulates everything and is used to manage everything from food orders to medical care and leisure time. Most people also wear "ARMS" on their wrists, which are connected to the "program" at all times. In addition, this program is used to control groups of robots that carry out normal activities such as food deliveries and administrative work, but also punish offenders and send them to reformatories if necessary. As internationally agreed, these robots all act in accordance with Asimov's three robot laws. Really all of them?

Leseprobe

Foreword

Dear reader,

While I was writing this, an article in a scientific journal caught my eye, in which the topic of humans and artificial intelligence was presented. As is usual these days, these "successes" were presented as scientific feats, as further developments in aids for humans.

Is everything as positive as it is presented in such publications?

The new media are certainly a great help for us humans in various areas but they also conceal great danger.

I think, as always, it's up to people what some innovations are used for, and at the moment I sometimes wonder if people in secret organizations, official or private, are not mainly determining the direction of developments, in large part to be able to better control the rest of humanity, whether through power or money.

Not only companies, but also governments, whether democratically elected or dictatorial, have a strong interest in acting with foresight and finding out as much as possible about their members, their citizens. And the new media are particularly suitable for spying. In addition, news can be spread extremely quickly in these new media, both true and untrue, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish true, neutral news from untrue, politically colored news.

But the "collecting mania" of state and private organizations should not be underestimated either and has reached an extent that nobody could have imagined fifty years ago, at the beginning of the computer age! But people also make it easy to collect data, because a large proportion of the population is very casual with their personal data, no, not just casual, they voluntarily disclose their most secret data, wishes and preferences to a medium without knowing what the medium does with the data, who it sends the data to, who uses the data and what happens to the data. They do not know what data the devices they use make available to which organization!

I am convinced that the first Emissiacs, or Emissioacceptors, and Vocis, or Vocenators, will soon be installed, or perhaps already have been, devices that are able to monitor rooms and the people in them, to recognize what they are doing and, in particular, what mood these people are in, and possibly even what they are thinking. Incidentally, these do not necessarily have to be new devices, it is enough if the cell phones, smartwatches and tablets with their integrated cameras record the user, possibly even unintentionally, analyze their visual and acoustic movements more precisely and then send this on to whomever! Do we normal consumers know what these devices are capable of and what the people and programs that receive and process this information are capable of?

Such personal information, such private settings, which help certain people or companies to create an in-depth personal register, may allow the creation of a digital doppelganger that looks like the original person, moves and speaks like the original person. However, this doppelganger may not say what the person would actually say, but what is useful to the company, the corporation, the government, whoever.

The development of such new digital people has been initiated and perhaps I shouldn't have called this novel "2064", but "2024"!!!

2064

The metallic "pling" announced a visit, and a voice sounded from outside: "Mr. Rotiner, this is the team from the shop steward's office in this apartment block. Can we come in?"

"Of course you can, and you know it," he thought inwardly, but he quickly tried to remember his 15th birthday. This was a proved routine for him to give his voice a diffuse feeling of happiness, because this team most certainly had a voci, a vocenator, with them. This Instrument was able to recognize the person´s mood by measuring the pitch and timbre of the voice.

"Come in, come in!" he shouted, "wait, I'll open up in a minute!" Unfortunately, a thought immediately crept into his head at this reply: "Stay outside until you're black!" And then: "What a pity that I´m not able to get a better control of my thoughts!"

He immediately forced himself to remember his 15th birthday even more intensely. Oh yes, that was when he had been given permission to ... oh yes!

He quickly put away the handicrafts he had been working on. It was all electronic waste, old parts that he had collected at craft markets or from scrap dealers. This collecting and tinkering was his hobby. He knew that there were more efficient devices on sale today that were much smaller than what he was producing here on his kitchen table, but he loved these old transistors and diodes. He almost felt as if he could see the electricity flowing through them and exerting its effect. Today's microchips, no, nanochips, with their engraved programs that hardly anyone outside the manufacturing company knew, no, they weren't his thing.

And yes, he had permission to buy such parts officially. His permission was not only available via the program, he had even received a written permission. This was rather unusual in these times.

However, he had only received this permission in return for the assurance that he would report immediately if he discovered that something was not going according to plan. It was strange that not only was it repeatedly pointed out in the program that everything and anything, every purchase and sale had to be recorded by the program. There was even a department that dealt with black market transactions and had its own robots for this. Strange because the black market, which was strictly forbidden, was still flourishing.

His steps had led him to his apartment door and now he looked at the door monitor. Oh, it was actually the people from the trust body! What did they want from him again? He held his hand in front of the opening activator. With a hiss, the door swung open gently and lightly, being stopped halfway by his little safety stone. This was a small piece that he had found at some point during one of his not-so-welcome walks alone. He had placed it behind his door so that the door didn't open completely straight away.

"Wait, no, 15th birthday," he scolded himself inwardly. Meanwhile he had become so fit that within a fraction of a second he was able to turn a smiling face to the two figures in front of his door.

He interpreted the hand gesture of one of them as meaning that he had just put his Voci away. A second thought crept into his head: "Lucky! If they had looked on it a little bit longer ..."

But his first thoughts were with the two representatives of the trust body.

"What gives me the honor? Oh, is it time again? Is the month already over? Here you go, if you had announced your visit a little earlier, I could have offered you something, but as it is ... well, unfortunately ..."

"No, we don't want anything. We've just come to talk to you. A purely routine measure. As you know, these monthly visits are mandatory to give everyone the feeling that they are an important member of our society. May we come in?"

"Yes, of course, come on, come on!"

He asked them into his kitchen, apologized for the mess, but they would just have to stay here in the kitchen ... because his bedroom, well, more of a sleeping alcove, would be too small for visitors, but they would know that.

Yes, they knew that, they both said almost simultaneously and looked in amazement at the small pile of old electronic parts piled up on the kitchen table.

And then, with what appeared to be a warning glance at his partner, the first, a rather young, athletic type, brought out the heavy artillery.

"Mr. Rotiner, unfortunately, this visit also has an unpleasant background. Our data has shown that you participate in our 'All-of-us' program at a below-average", he emphasized every syllable of the word: "below-average". Moreover, even when you do tune in, you reveal very little personal information compared to others. And you keep no or very little further contact with the program, except for the morning bow to the Emissiac in honor of the program, so practically an automatic contact here in your home. Your connectivity is also very poor, in fact completely inadequate. You do not carry a mobile device with you, so you are not - like everyone else today - permanently reachable. Although you know that almost every other person has direct contact and you therefore also appear in other mobile recording devices, we have the impression that you are keeping a very low profile, one could almost conclude that you are doing this deliberately. That's not fair to society, which is only concerned about doing what's best for you. And in order to do the best for each individual, society needs to know that person, preferably as precisely as possible. How do you feel about our society anyway? Are you an active member or just a follower or even an opponent?"

With these words he took out his Voci and placed it openly on the kitchen table and switched it on.

Had they caught him? Were they going to catch him? Thoughts raced through his head.

"Stop, think about your 15th, no, still better your 17th birthday!" his rational mind intervened. Yes, his 17th birthday was even still a little better suited to such a situation. He was in love then, but still insecure what feelings the other person had for him.

"Yes," he stuttered, hoping that his initial startled reaction hadn't been picked up by the device, that the device had to calibrate itself first and that his antipathy hadn't been noticed and that hopefully the feeling of happiness on his 17th birthday had been picked up by the device. His hand went up, he had to scratch his head, perhaps this gesture helped him in his search for thoughts, in his search for a suitable answer.

"Yes, actually, I think I'm kind of an active follower. I support today's society, of course, because it is based on the personal behavior of the individual, including me. Without this society and its manifestations such great diversity would not be possible and such a large crowd of people could not be managed."

He lowered his hand again and waved it to the side in a sweeping motion.

"The only way to satisfy 9, almost 10 billion people on earth is to try to capture every emotion and every need of every individual as accurately as possible. Of course, this requires a comprehensive collection of information; information that not only counts and records general behavior, but also includes personal expressions. And now, yes, unfortunately, at my age, you slow down with your thoughts. They still come, but unfortunately it takes longer and longer to formulate them and by the time I want to say something in the program, to comment on some topic, quite often someone else has already beaten me to it and then what I wanted to say is already gone again. I'm sorry! But apart from that, as you said, I do the daily bow required in the morning and have never missed it in the last few months!"

The morning bow to the Emissiac with its program was the most important part of the ritual that officially started the day. Before the introduction of the program, there had been supply shortages all over the world, leading to disputes, even wars and armed conflicts, for example over the lack of food, but especially often over drinking water reserves. Given the population density, these were problems that certainly affected livelihoods. These disputes sometimes even took place within the same family, but usually involved violent groups within a neighborhood or district who claimed power over food distribution. In addition, there was a global race in the economy. Who was the most powerful corporation?

At the same time, the issue of mobility had to be resolved. For decades politicians around the world had pushed away these issues, had maintained and cuddled the car and aircraft industry and had shied away from necessary decisions. But weather conditions and rising global temperatures had made a quick and far-reaching decision necessary. And who could answer this question, make the decisions with all their consequences? Only emotionless, cool computers had been able to do this, machine beings, robots, which people trusted to make independent decisions rather than politicians caught up in their entanglements and biased.

The question of the most powerful company was decided after just a few years by the introduction of the "All-of-us" program, which easily outperformed its competitors, bought them up or let them go out of business. In most cases, it integrated the companies in question into its empire until there were practically no free companies left, only "The Program"!

Of course, it took quite a while until the "perfect" supply economy was established, until most of the world's population had become accustomed to this program. But after that, thanks in part to the support of robots, those metal execution aids that could be made cheaply from the recycled remains of polluting cars, the quarrels and wars decreased radically because these quarrels were no longer necessary. Everyone now had enough to eat and drink, found a satisfying and useful activity with the help of the program and, after a certain period of education and possible reprimanding by the trusted people and if necessary by robots became part of this population community, part of the program.

Everything could be arranged through the program - or rather, the program arranged everything - from food to hospital visits, from education to personal entertainment and care. But this all-encompassing management also came at a price. You had to conform to the program.

Procuring food illegally and selling it on the black market was one of the greatest crimes, a crime against the provision of food for all people, a crime against humanity and was therefore severely punished. Attacks on the representatives of the program, i.e. the Emissioacceptors, or Emissiacs for short, but also the robots and Mechanos as well as the people of the trust body, were also serious misdemeanors, which were usually punished with incarceration in a reformatory and other consequences.

Part of the education was provided by the trust body people. It had become customary for them to visit every person in their district once a month and ask their opinion, draw the person's attention to any shortcomings in their behavior and thus generally conduct a certain kind of attitude research. Electronic devices called vocenators, or vocis for short, were also used to register positive and negative attituds and feelings, likes and dislikes.

The ritual of bowing in the morning was then introduced as confirmation and as a kind of expression of gratitude.

First the bow, then the food order! The bow was performed like this: You pointed to the Emissiac until the program appeared in golden letters. You then pointed to this lettering and bent your head forward, then bent your upper body at the waist until it was horizontal. The duration of the bow was irrelevant, physical infirmities were registered, momentary weaknesses could be communicated to the program and were usually accepted. However, it could happen that you would then receive a visit from the confidential staff with a medirobot.

After this procedure a selection field appeared in the Emissiac in which you had a variety of options for further activities.

The "Supplies" field was usually selected, where you could order food, but it was also possible to register other needs. Medical care or medication could be ordered, the workplace could be selected, an official news site, further education, entertainment, culture, all kinds of things could be chosen and ran at the level that had been reached during the last program. The program stored everything, from the desire for medication to the desire for entertainment, it registered everything, personal likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses of each individual. Due to this registration, this control, there was a consequent worldwide drop in criminal activity, both in business and in private life.

If the ritual was not followed, a signal was sent to the responsible trust body people department. In addition to the program, this department recorded such incidents and then visited those who had not performed the ritual within the next hour. The reasons for the omission were then checked on site. In most cases, illness or negligence was the cause, which is why only admonishments were issued or the emergency medical service was informed.

However, if a person refused to perform the ritual, possibly repeatedly, the members of the body of trust were even entitled to have him or her transferred to the reformatory, if necessary by force and with the support of mechanos. However, experience had shown that this only happened very rarely, as word had spread that this was very unpleasant for those concerned. Moreover, if a lecture did not have sufficient effect, such a person could even be kept in a reformatory for a longer period of time. Additional measures included reducing food to basic necessities, informing those around them about their negative attitude towards the program and entering them into the so-called "black list", in which people who opposed the program were noted. This meant that these people were observed and monitored particularly closely for a long time after their reintegration. In most cases, however, the food reduction (water and puree for breakfast, lunch and dinner) was enough to encourage these delinquents to participate in the program again.

Rotiner interrupted his thoughts and concentrated on his visitors again. During the previous long answer, he had first looked at their faces, then a brief glance had fallen on the device and he had noted with interest that the display had only fluctuated slightly. - Yes, he could trick this device! - But at this thought, the display had dropped immediately, as clearly as if the fatal thought had been written on his forehead. Oh, crap!

But then rescue came into his mind!

He raised his eyes and looked straight into the young sportsman’s face, forcing him to return the look so that he could not look at his device any longer.

"I might be a bit more forthcoming, but these conversational couplings usually involve people I know more closely, but who I wouldn't exactly count among my favorite partners. I know that such discrepancies should be discussed in public, but sometimes words can be misinterpreted and trigger false expectations or feelings in the person concerned. Oh, and these mobile devices, they're so mobile for me that quite often I can't find them any more, which is why I've gotten into the habit of going without!"

The man addressed looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then turned to his partner.

"Are we going to accept this or do we want to drill a little deeper?"

"Well," he said, "if that's his opinion - uhh - his current opinion and the device doesn't show anything abnormal, then everything seems to be fine here, except ..."

"Yes, except for his poor response to the talks and his refusal to carry a mobile device."

The sportsman turned his attention back to Rotiner:

"You yourself admit that you have shortcomings in these areas. So our request to express yourself more spontaneously comes as no surprise to you. But you say yourself that our society can only exist because and if everyone identifies with it and supports its representatives to the best of their ability. We assume today and now that you will get more involved in community activities in the future, which can only benefit you. Just think of the dangers you are exposed to and without a mobile device you don’t have any options of calling for help. Think about it! So we can only wish you even more joy and commitment for the interests of society. That's all for now. Let's go again! Good day!"

The two men got up, went into the hallway and the door to the apartment opened. But they stopped abruptly and the more corpulent one pointed to the emissioacceptor in the hallway, which was almost hidden by Rotiner's wardrobe. "Uh, and this Emissiac should have a clear field of vision, just to be on the safe side!"

He gave Rotiner a sharp look, then the two of them left and Rotiner was alone again.

Well, as usual, almost alone. He kept forgetting this "almost", because not only in his hallway, but also in his kitchen, in his bedroom and even in his toilet were these emissiacs, these emissioacceptors, devices that permanently recorded both visual and acoustic impressions, even when they were not displaying anything, and sent them on to the program.

These impressions were then compared with the person's previous behaviour by the program and abnormalities were processed in special subordinated individual programs; these programs were able to draw conclusions about the external and internal state of the person concerned on the basis of just a single sentence. That much he had learned.

Emissiacs were a good thing in themselves. He could use them to communicate with anyone he wanted around the clock, even when he was sitting on the pot, although the Emissiac installed there had a limited shutdown option.

Naturally, he was officially very pleased with the kind of security these devices gave him. For example, he could still stumble and fall, but the emissiacs would register this, report it as a dangerous situation and within ten minutes at the latest, the emergency services would be on hand to help him up again. Although , concerning his previous behavior, it might take fifteen minutes.

The control program was also able to draw conclusions from his previous behavior, surprising changes in behavior were recordedbut the reaction to them was still delayed.

He had learned this from old Mrs. Martin. She had told him that because she used to fall down from time to time, the emergency services were always there sooner, until she was visited by her trust body team. They had convinced her that it would be better if she stopped having that sip of alcohol after every meal.This would also have a positive effect on her health assessment. This turned out to be true. Her assessment had improved significantly afterwards, she had checked that in the program. After this visit, she had been only visited two or three times by the support service after just a few minutes, simply because she had bent over or knelt down. However, after they had been able to detect nothing unusual,the reaction time had returned to ten minutes and, as I said, her health coefficient had increased.

The old lady giggled and whispered to him that she wasn't actually allowed to give him such information as he had a risk level of 5.

She didn't tell him where she had gotten this information, on the contrary, she had become silent and mute afterwards. Perhaps it was only then that she realized what she had said. It could have been that he was one of the temporary controllers. Or that he might report this statement to her trust body team administration, who would then classify the lady as a higher risk, combined with intensive checks and further activities. Was it possible that the lady had just done a test on him?

Had he done wrong by not reporting these comments? Anyone else would have been happy to report such a chatterbox and would have earned a bonus for it. What about him? Perhaps if he had reported it, he could have reduced his security risk to 4, regardless of whether she was a chatterbox or a tester. Even today, he still didn't know that. Maybe that's why his security risk was already at 6!

He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Hopefully not!

And then his neighbor! He was suspicious of this lady!Since her husband had died, she had been looking for a replacement and had apparently found one in him. Not in a positive way, no, in a negative way! She spied on him, often knew more about what he had done than he did himself.

He knew this from a broadcast he had tuned into. This program happened to be about neighbors and, quite by chance, his neighbor had also taken part in the program and had just launched into a tirade, one could almost say, about his lottery life when he tuned in. The impressions he had received from her and her thirst for knowledge on the program! Unbelievable, she had told things about him, which she had made up or put together that he could only shake his head.

Then she had noticed that he had also joined the program and had pointed at him: "There, that's him!" He then logged out of the program, it had become too much for him! He didn't want to just spill his guts in front of other people or rebuke the woman in the same way she had denounced him.