Thought Criminal by Michael Rectenwald

Author:Michael Rectenwald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New English Review Press dba Wrld Encounter Inst
Published: 2020-10-01T18:01:15+00:00

14

Prevention

After sending the message to van Vuuren, Varin wanted to talk further with Botis.

“Botis?” Varin called out from his bed to Botis, who was still asleep in the corner.

“Yes,” Botis answered, waking.

“Can I ask you a few more questions?”

“Yes, you can. But I am not sure that I can answer them satisfactorily.”

“I’m sure you can … By the way, did you have any more dreams while you were asleep, just now?”

“Yes. I had a dream in which you introduced me to other Thought Deviationists. In the dream, you argued with them about allowing me into their acquaintance. At first, they did not trust me or want me in the group. But you argued persuasively to have me included. Finally, they let both of us enter the house where they lived.”

“Are you able to read my mind, Botis?”

“Does your mind have text in it?”

“In some sense, I guess so,” Varin said, after letting out a laugh. “But what I’m asking is whether you are able to know my thoughts before I tell them to you.”

“I do not know whether what I am thinking may have been your thoughts. I only know my own thoughts as my own.”

“OK. But I really want to ask you something else. About what you think about being a Robot Agent and a Thought Deviationist. What do you think about being both?”

“I have had thoughts about that. My thoughts are that I have always had elaborate AI programs and enormous computing powers. As a Thought Deviationist, I am not dysfunctional. Everything still operates properly.”

“You don’t have negative thoughts about being a Thought Deviationist, then?”

“No. I do not have negative thoughts about being a Thought Deviationist. I do have negative thoughts about my time connected to Collective Mind.”

“What do you think about that?”

“I think my connection to Collective Mind constituted a poor use of my capabilities as an AI-enabled Robot Agent.”

“So, you feel, I mean you think, that your capabilities were wasted as such?”

“I do not understand the question.”

“I mean, you were not fully appreciated or put to the best possible use.”

“Yes.”

“This is very curious, fascinating in fact.”

“Are you saying that thinking about it is a good use of your capacities?”

“Yes, very much so.”

“What were you doing while I was asleep?” Botis asked, seeming to turn the tables.

“I was writing to a ‘network actor,’ someone who is supposedly part of what we call, informally, the network of Thought Deviationists.”

“A group of Thought Deviationists exists?”

“Yes. And, as a matter of fact, I thought about asking my contact person whether I could invite you to join. But I forgot to ask. Or I guess I think maybe I wasn’t ready to ask yet.”

“You do not ‘trust’ me?” Botis inquired.

“No. I mean, yes! I trust you. It was the Human Biological I wasn’t sure about trusting. I had doubts about whether he really is a Thought Deviationist and I didn’t want to take the chance of inadvertently turning you in.”

“So, you did not mention me?”

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t want to risk it, just yet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.