CHAPTER 164: SECOND MONDAY (9)

"Like Asimov’s three laws?" asked Samantha.

"No, those are fine for fiction, but it’s impossible to define in a logical framework," said Madison.

"Why not a hard-coded value system?" asked Miranda.

"How would that work?" asked Madison.

"Pretty much everything humans do is guided by values. We value breathing over thirst, thirst over hunger, sex over sleep, and our own life over that of a stranger’s life. A mother values the lives of her children over her own, usually. If we give an AGI the right values, then it won’t betray humanity because it cannot betray its own values."

"That’s a good idea, Miranda. I want you and Madison to work together to find experts that can help you with solving the AGI problem. I’ll just templatize them, and you can consult them whenever you need to."

"But I thought you were only going to templatize people if they gave you permission?" asked Madison.

"I changed my mind," he said. "We can keep track of their contributions and find a way to compensate them later, but I think this is important enough that we don’t have the luxury of niceties."

Miranda smile triumphantly.

"Rina, I want you to focus on VR and photonic chip development."

"I have an idea," she said.

"Oh?"

"All the current VR headsets and AR classes have shitty image quality. I’ve tried them all, and they just give me a massive headache."

"Are you sure that’s not just you?" teased Nora.

"No, everyone agrees that VR image quality is worse than desktop monitor quality. If we can develop a VR headset that is so good, people forget they’re even wearing it, then we can establish a dominant position in the market. We need the VR headset for our VR anyway, so it’s best if we start there."

"Good thinking, Rina. First VR headsets, then VR, then maybe haptic bodysuits?"

"Yes, that’s what I’m thinking. The question is, what about manufacturing? It does us no good if we have a killer design, but no way to manufacture it."

"Nanotech," said Jack and Nora at the same time.

"Right. Nora, do you mind focusing on nanotech-based manufacturing first? Like nanotech 3D printing or something."

"No, I was planning on doing that anyway, so that’s fine."

"Great."

He looked around the room. Everyone had looks of excitement and determination except Samantha. She was looking a little lost and disappointed.

"Samantha?" he said.

She looked at him expectantly.

"How would you like to look at an electron?"

"What do you mean, ’look at an electron?’"

He stood.

"Ladies, thank you for your time. Samantha, follow me. I have something to show you."

He led Samantha out of the conference room and over to his wall of snapshots in his white room. He grabbed a small Subatomic level snapshot and zoomed in until it was focused on a single electron.

He turned to Samantha, who had been watching, and saw that her eyes were wide and her pupils were dilated so much her irises were almost invisible.

"I tried zooming in further, but it’s like my mind just cannot comprehend what I’m seeing."

"It’s like looking at pure math!" she exclaimed. "Zoom in a little more."

He did.

She leaned forward until her face was centimeters from the surface of the snapshot sphere.

"Amazing," she muttered.

Then she grabbed Jack’s shoulders and begged, "Please Jack, I need my laptop and a notebook, or ten."

"Sure."

He got her address, figured out how far that was from the hotel, and made a snapshot just large enough to reach.

When he zoomed into her bedroom, he noticed that she had several posters on her wall and all of them were pictures of him.

One was of him standing at a chemistry lab station holding a test tube. One was of him sitting in the library. And one was of him leaning against a door frame.

Damn! When did I get so handsome? The one of him leaning against the door frame made him look cool and suave.

"Oh! Um, I... Um," said a flustered Samantha.

"I don’t mind," he said as he located her laptop and made a template of it.

He instantiated her laptop template along with a notebook and pen and handed them to her, then deleted the snapshot.

He cupped her face and gave her a kiss.

"Just focus on learning. If you make a discovery, great. But no rush. Just have fun exploring."

"But..."

"This is what you want, right? To plumb the depths of reality. To peel back the layers and peer into the soul of the universe. Well, here’s your chance. If you discover a discrepancy between current theory and the reality revealed to you in a snapshot, then I expect you to share it with me and the other girls. That’s your task."

"But how will that help you with your goals?"

"I don’t know. But I’m hoping you’ll discover something amazing. Maybe you’ll discover something that will enable faster-than-light communication, or portals. Considering the kinds of things Genesis Heart can do, I’m certain there’s a lot more to the universe than we thought."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Samantha. All I want from you is for you to be the best you, you can be. If Madison wanted to focus on cybersecurity stuff, or Miranda wanted to focus on fashion, I’d be happy to let them. It’s only coincidence that their interests and my goals align."

"Okay."

She grabbed the back of his head with her free hand, then pulled him down and gave him a hungry kiss.

He patted her ass and said, "Go ahead. Just be warned. I’ll cut off your access when it’s time for you to sleep. I do the same with Madison sometimes."

"Oh, um. Right. Yes, I can get a little, um, focused sometimes. So that’s fine. Thank you."

Her attention was already on the snapshot. He summoned a table and chair for her and moved the snapshot so she could see it and work on her laptop at the same time.

As he walked back towards the training room, he wondered how long it would take for anyone to achieve results.

He was a little annoyed that he couldn’t keep up with all of them. But realistically, Rina and Madison were already way ahead of him in their fields. Nora was too, but he was catching up slowly. He would stay focused on genetics and nanotech.