Analog Science Fiction and Fact 2022 03-04 by Penny Publications

Author:Penny Publications [Publications, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penny Publications
Published: 2022-02-28T23:00:00+00:00

There was a knock on the door, and Catherine went to answer it.

“Pardon my intrusion,” the assassin said. It was a chromed mantisform a good seven feet tall, in bespoke Savile Row worsted. It ducked through the doorway. “Dr. Liu, Dr. McClury. It is an honor to be in such distinguished company. My name is Obedience To The State.”

Catherine drew out a chair for the visitor, and it folded itself into it. “Are you here to kill me?” Huiling asked.

“Please. I’m a diplomat. My mission is to communicate and reason with you.”

“But you will kill me if you deem it necessary.”

“Murder is a form of communication, after all. But I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Obedience folded its arms. “Now, I understand that you’ve made some sort of breakthrough in interfacing...?”

“Not interfacing. Intrafacing.”

“Not interfacing. Intrafacing.” “You confound me. My briefing, it seems, was incomplete. What’s the difference?”

In a manner that suggested she had delivered this explanation many times before, Huiling said, “An interface is the point where two systems, objects, organizations, or whatever meet and interact. It’s the site of communication between two entities. Most commonly, it takes the form of a screen for humans or a port for machines. An intraface is the point of communication within a single entity, such as the electrical and chemical interactions within the human body. Consider Nerve and myself as two distinct entities. When we communicate, we interface. However, if you consider us as a single entity with no clear agreement as to where one ends and the other begins, communication within ourselves is intrafacing.”

Obedience took off its kid leather gloves and tapped them thoughtfully against its perfectly polished head where its lips would be if it had such features. “ So... you’re talking about a host-parasite relationship?”

“No!”

“There’s no existing term for what Huiling and Nerve appear to be,” Catherine said. “It’s more than a symbiotic relationship but less than a complete merger. Think of them as having a shared awareness with two nodes of personality.”

Huiling nodded.

“But this is monstrous. If I understand correctly, you have merged your consciousness with an inferior order of intellect. I am appalled that you would find this acceptable,” Obedience said. “I am addressing, of course, Nirvana or Bust. Explain yourself, please.”

Huiling closed her eyes, and Nerve said, “My interest in humans was purely theoretical, to begin with. Who wouldn’t want to understand the only other intelligent form of life in the Solar System and possibly the Universe? But then I became fascinated by neuroen-docrinology. Why is so much of the human nervous system extracranial? Why is so much of human consciousness experienced through emotions? You can imagine my excitement at the possibility of collaborating with a human theoretician who was working on the problem from the other side of the Artificial/Natural divide. We clicked. Then, as our work developed, I more and more wanted to know what it would feel like to experience endocrinologically mediated thought.”

“Human thought is muddy and confused and inherently inferior. Artificial intelligence is thought purified and perfected,” Obedience To The State said.

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