Read Online Shine by Jetse de Vries (ed) - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jetse de Vries (ed)
Tags: Science-Fiction, Anthology
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room, its inner walls blinking with embedded systems. A large personal data center was in a corner and next to it a black hard drive. "Why not?"
"Because I think you wouldn't like the broader consequences. But since I'm not sure about your opinion, I can't decide it by myself. See the drive? It contains detailed information about all the carbon footprint I generated since I joined Gear5. Read it and decide if this is the path we should follow before my code goes public in the morning. When that happens, I won't be me anymore."
Lúcio turned his engines off and got closer to Inácio, his black skin reflected in green semi-transparent eyes. The greenman watched his partner kneel down, his face turned upwards, smiling, too close to his groin. "But before you do it," Lúcio began, "turn your haptics on."
The surf close to the wall was brief, but beautiful nevertheless in Recife's waking hours. The sun had fully risen and Inácio sat on the stone parapet, his shoeless feet swinging free, getting wet in the salty drizzle. He kept the black hard drive next to him and away from the fatal fall. His vision was filled with diagrams, schematics and other greenmen's projections for the next several years.
He didn't wait long for the call.
"Good morning, Mr. Lima," said Cloak-and-globe.
"Yeah. Good." His eyes were sunk inside his skull, his body ached, his eardrums were blown. But it was a good day. Except that, in his mind, the decision Lúcio demanded wasn't clear.
"Is the report ready?"
"Yes, it is. I'm uploading it to you." Inácio dragged the icon to a virtual table close to his client. "Done. You have my account, so I'm sure you'll transfer my money." Inácio jumped back to the sidewalk, barefooted, and headed to the escalator.
"Mr. Lima! Wait," said the globe, the storm in his glassy head less visible under daylight. "I'd like to know your personal opinion on the matter. This document will surely give me and the group I represent all the details, numbers and other minutiae necessary to decide. But time's short and if you could provide me a quick analysis, that'd be much appreciated."
Inácio stopped just before the escalator's steps, rolling down to the avenue. "My opinion? You want my opinion?" He assumed the most professional tone he could. "Gear5's new technology is highly disruptive. It puts an end to our time and begins another one, potentially radically different from any other in human history." He moved closer to the boy-investor.
"But it needs so much energy, so much bandwidth, that three or four Earths would be necessary to feed it. Think about a datacenter for a whole mind. The computational power needed to calculate the simplest of human decisions. The raw materials needed to build all that infrastructure.
"Yesterday's blackouts were the result of their iteration prototype running. They're consuming the city's whole energy and communications. That's why they were buying so much carbon. They thought it'd make the technology pass the trade regulations. They didn't think about the impact. Not to mention that only those rich enough to pay the stratospheric price Gear5's asking would be able to buy the uploading code and hardware. It will generate a kind of inequality never seen before.
"So, no. This product isn't sustainable in the current state of the technology.
"However, in the longer term fusion has the potential to end poverty, disease, and the necessity to consume Earth's natural resources. The few surviving post-humans may live in a golden, perfect time. I'm serious." Inácio crossed his arms. "It's your call."
A moment of silence fell between them. The third morning train broke the city's silence, running north, fast and empty.
Cloak asked a final time, slowly. "And what do you think my group should do?"
Inácio paused for a moment, thinking. That could work. " Your group should approach Gear5 with an offer they can't refuse. Be aggressive. Gather all the intellectual capital your group has and tell
"Because I think you wouldn't like the broader consequences. But since I'm not sure about your opinion, I can't decide it by myself. See the drive? It contains detailed information about all the carbon footprint I generated since I joined Gear5. Read it and decide if this is the path we should follow before my code goes public in the morning. When that happens, I won't be me anymore."
Lúcio turned his engines off and got closer to Inácio, his black skin reflected in green semi-transparent eyes. The greenman watched his partner kneel down, his face turned upwards, smiling, too close to his groin. "But before you do it," Lúcio began, "turn your haptics on."
The surf close to the wall was brief, but beautiful nevertheless in Recife's waking hours. The sun had fully risen and Inácio sat on the stone parapet, his shoeless feet swinging free, getting wet in the salty drizzle. He kept the black hard drive next to him and away from the fatal fall. His vision was filled with diagrams, schematics and other greenmen's projections for the next several years.
He didn't wait long for the call.
"Good morning, Mr. Lima," said Cloak-and-globe.
"Yeah. Good." His eyes were sunk inside his skull, his body ached, his eardrums were blown. But it was a good day. Except that, in his mind, the decision Lúcio demanded wasn't clear.
"Is the report ready?"
"Yes, it is. I'm uploading it to you." Inácio dragged the icon to a virtual table close to his client. "Done. You have my account, so I'm sure you'll transfer my money." Inácio jumped back to the sidewalk, barefooted, and headed to the escalator.
"Mr. Lima! Wait," said the globe, the storm in his glassy head less visible under daylight. "I'd like to know your personal opinion on the matter. This document will surely give me and the group I represent all the details, numbers and other minutiae necessary to decide. But time's short and if you could provide me a quick analysis, that'd be much appreciated."
Inácio stopped just before the escalator's steps, rolling down to the avenue. "My opinion? You want my opinion?" He assumed the most professional tone he could. "Gear5's new technology is highly disruptive. It puts an end to our time and begins another one, potentially radically different from any other in human history." He moved closer to the boy-investor.
"But it needs so much energy, so much bandwidth, that three or four Earths would be necessary to feed it. Think about a datacenter for a whole mind. The computational power needed to calculate the simplest of human decisions. The raw materials needed to build all that infrastructure.
"Yesterday's blackouts were the result of their iteration prototype running. They're consuming the city's whole energy and communications. That's why they were buying so much carbon. They thought it'd make the technology pass the trade regulations. They didn't think about the impact. Not to mention that only those rich enough to pay the stratospheric price Gear5's asking would be able to buy the uploading code and hardware. It will generate a kind of inequality never seen before.
"So, no. This product isn't sustainable in the current state of the technology.
"However, in the longer term fusion has the potential to end poverty, disease, and the necessity to consume Earth's natural resources. The few surviving post-humans may live in a golden, perfect time. I'm serious." Inácio crossed his arms. "It's your call."
A moment of silence fell between them. The third morning train broke the city's silence, running north, fast and empty.
Cloak asked a final time, slowly. "And what do you think my group should do?"
Inácio paused for a moment, thinking. That could work. " Your group should approach Gear5 with an offer they can't refuse. Be aggressive. Gather all the intellectual capital your group has and tell
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