Read Online Killing Time by Caleb Carr - Free Book Online

medical research, from education
and foreign aid, even from weapons development—diverted from everything, that
is, save the opening of new markets and the expansion of old ones."
    "All right," I agreed,
Larissa's ever-closer presence making me feel steadily more at ease. "I'll
admit I agree with you, but so what? You've said yourself that this sort of
thing has happened before in human history."
    "Non, Gideon,"
Julien Fouché said as he wrapped one meaty hand around a small espresso cup.
"That is most distinctly not what Malcolm has said. The beginning
of the story may have precedents, but this last chapter? There has never been
anything like it. The floodgates were thrown open, and human society, already
saturated with information, began to drown in it. Tell me—you are
familiar, I suppose, with the concept of the 'threshold moment'? When a process
increases so drastically in rate and severity—"
    "That a quantitative change
actually becomes a qualitative one," I finished for him. "Yes,
Professor, I know."
    "Well, then," Fouché
went on, "let us put it to you that world civilization has itself reached
just such a moment."
    I sat back for a moment. Extreme
as his words might have sounded, they could not be dismissed, given their
source. "You're saying," I eventually answered, "that the growth
of these latest technologies has been so quantitatively different from other
informational developments—from, say, the invention of the printing press—that
the effect has been a qualitative shift in the nature of society itself?"
    "Précisément," Fouché
answered with a nod. "But don't look so amazed, Doctor. The people behind
these technologies have themselves been claiming for years that they were
bringing about enormous changes. It is simply that we who are assembled here
view those changes as"—he took a sip of espresso as he struggled to find a
word— "ominous. "
    Then it was Leon Tarbell's turn:
"The 'information age' has not created any free exchange of knowledge,
Gideon. All we have is a free exchange of whatever the sexless custodians of
information technology consider acceptable."
    "And the very nature of that
technology means that there is no real knowledge anymore," Eli
Kuperman piled on, "because what those custodians do allow to slip
through their delivery systems is utterly unregulated and unverifiable.
Mistaken facts—or, worse yet, deceptions on a simple or a grand scale, supported
by doctored evidence and digitally manipulated images—become commonly accepted
wisdom before there's even been a chance to determine the validity of their
bases."
    "And remember," Jonah
Kuperman added, "that we've now raised not one but several generations
of children who have been exposed only to that kind of questionable
data—"
    "Whoa, whoa, slow
down!" I finally called out, holding up my hands. During the brief respite
that followed, I let out a deep, troubled breath. "This is starting to
sound like some kind of runaway conspiracy theory—technoparanoia of the worst
kind. What in the world makes you think that people can pull off deceptions on
a level that will change the fundamental underpinnings of entire societies, for
God's sake?"
    Everyone around me suddenly grew
strangely silent; then, one by one, they turned to Tressalian, who was staring
at his fingertips as he slowly bounced them together. After a few seconds he
looked up at me, the smile on his face more charming and yet more devious than
it had been at any point in the evening. "We know, Doctor," he said
quietly, "because we've done it."
    " You? "
    Tressalian nodded. "Quite a
few times, actually. And the best, I dare say, is yet to come—if you'll help
us."
    "But—" I tried to grasp
it. "But I mean—I thought you were against all that."
    "Oh, make no mistake, we
are." Tressalian struggled to turn his chair and then rolled to the
forwardmost area of the dome, real disgust and even anger coming into his
voice. "Human society is diseased, Doctor—this fatuous,