Read Online The 2084 Precept by Anthony D. Thompson - Free Book Online
Authors: Anthony D. Thompson
Tags: philosophical mystery
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being?"
"You mean, I suppose" said Jeremy, "why do I
look and sound and behave like a human being? Hmm…what would
be the best way for me to clarify that?"
He looked at me with one raised eyebrow,
drank some water, saw that I was not about to provide him with any
suggestions, and continued. "Let me try this—I assume you know what
a computer hacker is in your world?"
"Yes."
"A good one can enter into other people's
computers, private computers, big business computers, military
computers, virtually any computer, and manipulate the data, the
programs and the processes within those computers. He can directly
influence how the computers and their programs function. And if he
is particularly talented and malicious, he can also in some cases
copy the data or destroy all the data and the programs as well.
Eliminate them entirely. Without needing to be anywhere near the
computers themselves of course."
"Indeed, Mr. Parker. But I.T. disaster
recovery procedures usually include security methodologies to
counter attempts at data and program manipulation or elimination.
And in any case, everything is subject to continuous back-up
operations. I do agree, nevertheless, that it can cause temporary
chaos. And I also agree that the copying of sensitive data can have
dangerous consequences of course."
He looked at me with a polite but patient
stare, like someone attempting to teach in a kindergarten.
"Yes, well, there are no back-up
possibilities for your brains, Mr. O'Donoghue. I zeroed in on a
mentally handicapped patient, of which there are around 6,000 in
your U.K. hospitals. This was a sad, hopeless and incurable case.
And I installed the copy of my brain into his. In the same way as
you install chips into your computers or mobile phones, except that
my chip is not made out of physical material. I am walking around
in his body. I use the undamaged parts of his brain for the purpose
of all physical functions, which are controlled of course by my own
brain, which, in addition, has taken over the management and
operation of all the active mental functions. I speak your language
because that is the language stored in the patient's
memory—grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and so on. Just like your
computers, brains operate on electrical impulses and there is, for
us, nothing particularly complicated about this methodology."
My feelings were now becoming pretty mixed.
On the one hand I would like to get out of here. On the other hand
it is definitely fun, but then again, overall I am beginning to
feel quite sorry for the guy. He is obviously far gone, totally
zapped, away on another planet—great allegory—and here I am playing
games with him. Which I shouldn't be, I really shouldn't. But he's
totally crazy, deluded enough to be taking everything seriously,
and he might really have wired me the €100,000. Or not. Probably
not, but let me just push him along a little bit further, just for
the hell of it. Just for the fun.
"Mr. Parker," I said, "this is all very
interesting for me to hear and, as you will no doubt agree, equally
difficult for me to understand, let alone believe. Tell me please,
what documentation do you carry, how did you create or get hold of
these companies, where did all that money come from?"
It is a game I shouldn't be playing. But
let's see what else he can come up with.
"Simple," he said. "The patient was a man
called Jeremy Parker and under my auspicious direction he completed
a miraculous, comprehensive and undeniable recovery which left them
with no alternative but to eventually hand him his papers and
release him back into society. Jeremy was on his own. His only
remaining relation, his mother, had died some two years previously
and, of course, they wanted to keep me under regular observation,
to study me in fact. But I severed my contact with the community
care people almost immediately, and I have never been back to the
asylum and I don't believe they can force me to in any way."
"And the rest?" I
"You mean, I suppose" said Jeremy, "why do I
look and sound and behave like a human being? Hmm…what would
be the best way for me to clarify that?"
He looked at me with one raised eyebrow,
drank some water, saw that I was not about to provide him with any
suggestions, and continued. "Let me try this—I assume you know what
a computer hacker is in your world?"
"Yes."
"A good one can enter into other people's
computers, private computers, big business computers, military
computers, virtually any computer, and manipulate the data, the
programs and the processes within those computers. He can directly
influence how the computers and their programs function. And if he
is particularly talented and malicious, he can also in some cases
copy the data or destroy all the data and the programs as well.
Eliminate them entirely. Without needing to be anywhere near the
computers themselves of course."
"Indeed, Mr. Parker. But I.T. disaster
recovery procedures usually include security methodologies to
counter attempts at data and program manipulation or elimination.
And in any case, everything is subject to continuous back-up
operations. I do agree, nevertheless, that it can cause temporary
chaos. And I also agree that the copying of sensitive data can have
dangerous consequences of course."
He looked at me with a polite but patient
stare, like someone attempting to teach in a kindergarten.
"Yes, well, there are no back-up
possibilities for your brains, Mr. O'Donoghue. I zeroed in on a
mentally handicapped patient, of which there are around 6,000 in
your U.K. hospitals. This was a sad, hopeless and incurable case.
And I installed the copy of my brain into his. In the same way as
you install chips into your computers or mobile phones, except that
my chip is not made out of physical material. I am walking around
in his body. I use the undamaged parts of his brain for the purpose
of all physical functions, which are controlled of course by my own
brain, which, in addition, has taken over the management and
operation of all the active mental functions. I speak your language
because that is the language stored in the patient's
memory—grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and so on. Just like your
computers, brains operate on electrical impulses and there is, for
us, nothing particularly complicated about this methodology."
My feelings were now becoming pretty mixed.
On the one hand I would like to get out of here. On the other hand
it is definitely fun, but then again, overall I am beginning to
feel quite sorry for the guy. He is obviously far gone, totally
zapped, away on another planet—great allegory—and here I am playing
games with him. Which I shouldn't be, I really shouldn't. But he's
totally crazy, deluded enough to be taking everything seriously,
and he might really have wired me the €100,000. Or not. Probably
not, but let me just push him along a little bit further, just for
the hell of it. Just for the fun.
"Mr. Parker," I said, "this is all very
interesting for me to hear and, as you will no doubt agree, equally
difficult for me to understand, let alone believe. Tell me please,
what documentation do you carry, how did you create or get hold of
these companies, where did all that money come from?"
It is a game I shouldn't be playing. But
let's see what else he can come up with.
"Simple," he said. "The patient was a man
called Jeremy Parker and under my auspicious direction he completed
a miraculous, comprehensive and undeniable recovery which left them
with no alternative but to eventually hand him his papers and
release him back into society. Jeremy was on his own. His only
remaining relation, his mother, had died some two years previously
and, of course, they wanted to keep me under regular observation,
to study me in fact. But I severed my contact with the community
care people almost immediately, and I have never been back to the
asylum and I don't believe they can force me to in any way."
"And the rest?" I
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