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Authors: James P. Hogan
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about them. FISE is a first step toward something radically different. You can’t judge them both by the same criteria.”
But Laura was only just warming up.
“How can they be well understood when they’ve only been going into TITAN for a year?” she demanded. “You said yourself they need time to learn and that they don’t have any common sense anyway. What’s to stop them starting to do things that don’t make sense?”
“They can only work inside the limits they’re designed for,” Dyer told her. “If a HESPER machine is set up to coordinate the communications traffic across part of the net, it can only learn how to do the job better. It can’t make things worse because it isn’t programmed to, and it can’t do anything else because it doesn’t have any generalized capabilities.”
“But it extends its own programs as it goes along,” Laura retorted. “That’s what you just said the last time I was here. So machines are out there that are putting stuff into those programs that nobody knows about. So how can anybody know what they might do? You have to admit that nobody can claim to understand them completely anymore. That means there’s a whole planetful of people being used as guinea pigs. Who ever asked them whether or not they wanted all these machines running everything anyhow? Nobody asked me.”
“Aw come on,” Dyer replied gruffly. “You’re not gonna give me one of those back-to-the-good-old-days speeches, are you? How did they live fifty years ago? People living like zombies, doing the same thing day in, day out, five days a week, fifty weeks a year, right through from when they left school to when they got put out to pasture . . . and being conditioned into accepting it as normal. Think they want to go back to that? Not on your life . . . no more than they want to put their kids back down in coal mines.”
“Okay, okay,” Laura held up a pacifying hand. “I don’t want to go back to that either. I didn’t say anything about the good old days. You’re always twisting things, Ray. What I’m concerned about is the future. We’ve put all these machines everywhere and connected them all together and, yes I agree, they’re doing a pretty good job. Nobody starves these days, nobody goes without much, people don’t fight about the things they used to, everybody does his own thing in life and hey, isn’t that nice.
“But people have always been in control. This business you’re talking about sounds like handing control over to machines as well, and I’m just not convinced they can handle it. HESPER is just a first step. You’d be perfectly happy to hand the whole shooting match over to a bunch of morons because the thought just doesn’t cross your mind that they might screw everything up. Then the whole setup would collapse in a heap and we’d all be right back in the bad old days that you’re so delighted to be out of.”
“It’s just progress being taken to its next logical—” Dyer began, but Laura was not through.
“It isn’t progress at all. It’s abdication. But the people who have the say in what happens are all people who think the way you do. You shape the world to suit yourselves and the rest of us have to live in it. I don’t like it.”
“I disagree,” he told her bluntly. “People like you do get a say in it. Everybody gets a say in it. Society evolves the way it does because it reflects the net result of billions of individuals all pushing and pulling in different directions. In other words it’s what best suits most of the people most of the time. Therefore things always get better because better is automatically defined by the process. It’s the way most people want to go. If they didn’t, then they’d go some other way instead and then something else would automatically become better.”
“Suppose I don’t want to be stampeded along with the herd?” Laura challenged.
“Then don’t be. Go live alone someplace and do your own thing
But Laura was only just warming up.
“How can they be well understood when they’ve only been going into TITAN for a year?” she demanded. “You said yourself they need time to learn and that they don’t have any common sense anyway. What’s to stop them starting to do things that don’t make sense?”
“They can only work inside the limits they’re designed for,” Dyer told her. “If a HESPER machine is set up to coordinate the communications traffic across part of the net, it can only learn how to do the job better. It can’t make things worse because it isn’t programmed to, and it can’t do anything else because it doesn’t have any generalized capabilities.”
“But it extends its own programs as it goes along,” Laura retorted. “That’s what you just said the last time I was here. So machines are out there that are putting stuff into those programs that nobody knows about. So how can anybody know what they might do? You have to admit that nobody can claim to understand them completely anymore. That means there’s a whole planetful of people being used as guinea pigs. Who ever asked them whether or not they wanted all these machines running everything anyhow? Nobody asked me.”
“Aw come on,” Dyer replied gruffly. “You’re not gonna give me one of those back-to-the-good-old-days speeches, are you? How did they live fifty years ago? People living like zombies, doing the same thing day in, day out, five days a week, fifty weeks a year, right through from when they left school to when they got put out to pasture . . . and being conditioned into accepting it as normal. Think they want to go back to that? Not on your life . . . no more than they want to put their kids back down in coal mines.”
“Okay, okay,” Laura held up a pacifying hand. “I don’t want to go back to that either. I didn’t say anything about the good old days. You’re always twisting things, Ray. What I’m concerned about is the future. We’ve put all these machines everywhere and connected them all together and, yes I agree, they’re doing a pretty good job. Nobody starves these days, nobody goes without much, people don’t fight about the things they used to, everybody does his own thing in life and hey, isn’t that nice.
“But people have always been in control. This business you’re talking about sounds like handing control over to machines as well, and I’m just not convinced they can handle it. HESPER is just a first step. You’d be perfectly happy to hand the whole shooting match over to a bunch of morons because the thought just doesn’t cross your mind that they might screw everything up. Then the whole setup would collapse in a heap and we’d all be right back in the bad old days that you’re so delighted to be out of.”
“It’s just progress being taken to its next logical—” Dyer began, but Laura was not through.
“It isn’t progress at all. It’s abdication. But the people who have the say in what happens are all people who think the way you do. You shape the world to suit yourselves and the rest of us have to live in it. I don’t like it.”
“I disagree,” he told her bluntly. “People like you do get a say in it. Everybody gets a say in it. Society evolves the way it does because it reflects the net result of billions of individuals all pushing and pulling in different directions. In other words it’s what best suits most of the people most of the time. Therefore things always get better because better is automatically defined by the process. It’s the way most people want to go. If they didn’t, then they’d go some other way instead and then something else would automatically become better.”
“Suppose I don’t want to be stampeded along with the herd?” Laura challenged.
“Then don’t be. Go live alone someplace and do your own thing
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