The Turing Exception
Read The Turing Exception Online
Authors: William Hertling
Tags: #William Hertling, #The Singularity Series, #Artificial Intelligence--fiction, #science fiction, #suspense
The Turing Exception
“Hertling is the Asimov of our generation.”
—
Brad Feld, Co-founder of Foundry Group
“Action-packed yet nuanced look at a world where artificial intelligence is commonplace.”
—
Ben Huh, CEO and Founder of Cheezburger
“Chilling and compelling”
—
Wired on
Avogadro Corp
“Awesome, thrilling, and very, very real. In a world where self-driving cars and AI stock-traders are becoming real, Hertling’s AI Singularity may be just around the corner. You need to read this book!”
—
Ramez Naam, author of
Nexus,
on
Avogadro Corp
“A fun read and tantalizing study of the future of technology: both inviting and alarming.”
—
Harper Reed, CEO Modest Inc., former CTO of Obama for America, on
The Last Firewall
“Among the most plausible and best conceived explorations of [artificial intelligence]”
—
Peter A. Garretson, Lt Col, USAF
on A.I. Apocalypse
and
The Last Firewall
“A fast-paced techno-thriller set in a hybrid human/AI world with social tension and dominance conflicts, where advanced neurotechnology and nanotechnology are part of daily life.”
—
KurzweilAI.net on
The Last Firewall
W
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HERTLING
EXCEPTION
BOOK FOUR OF THE SINGULARITY SERIES
liquididea press
Portland, Oregon
THE TURING EXCEPTION
A liquididea press Book / 2015
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Copyright © 2015 by William Hertling
Cover Concept by Jason Gurley
Cover Design by M. S. Corley
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Keywords: technological singularity, artificial intelligence, robotics, transhumanism, posthumanism, cyberpunk.
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PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
For Dave, Gene, and Mike.
Part 0
BEFORE
It is the year 2043.
For thirty years, humans and artificial intelligence, or AI, have coexisted in a carefully calibrated balance of power.
Some AI live their lives only inside computers, never visiting the real world, while others take the form of robot bodies. But all have been ruled by a rigid caste reputation system that ensures only those AI who are trustworthy and who contribute to both human and AI civilization will increase in power.
Humans are changing. Most have neural implants to connect them to the global net, but a growing number have augmented their intelligence with computers in their minds, becoming part human, part AI. Many spend their lives immersed in virtual reality, rarely visiting the real world.
Everything is about to change.
June, 2043 in Portland, Oregon.
C
AT STEPPED OUT
of the shower seconds before her neural implant signaled an urgent call from Mike Williams. She went to voice-only.
“What’s up, Mike?” Mike, her longtime friend, headed the Institute for Applied Ethics, the governing body for AI.
“We have a developing situation in Miami. Our staff AI are modeling power use data and think there’s a chance of unsanctioned computers. It might be nothing, but I’m hoping you or Leon could check it out.”
Cat thought briefly about the high chair covered in a layer of dried baby food that overwhelmed even the cleaning bots, and the load of diapers that needed washing. She glanced toward the bedroom, where her husband, Leon Tsarev, still slept. “I’m in. Leon can watch the baby.”
“Great. I’ll have a supersonic waiting at the airport for you.”
Cat disconnected and considered whether to wake Leon to tell him about the trip. It was a borderline defensible argument that he needed sleep. She recorded a message for his implant, setting the flag to auto-play when he woke.
She dressed quickly, a pair of custom, nano-grown bulletproof pants. They looked like leather and felt like spandex-cotton, which wasn’t standard issue; but when your friends were some of the smartest AI in the world, 3D printing a pair was a simple favor. Over her shirt she added a double shoulder holster, picking her two favorite guns
—
the SIG Sauer P12 with ceramic, armor-piercing bullets, and the new Remington Smart9 with guided rounds
—
out of the lockbox.
She stepped out the front door and dodged an early morning bonsai drone maintaining the ornamentals on the front porch. Several hundred sensors and cameras from the neighbors’ homes and cars, the city’s monitors, and the community WatchNet surveyed everything, watching for anomalies. She negated them all with a thought, subverting their systems at the network level with about as much effort as it took to blow a gnat away.
She scanned the net out of habit. She sensed the always-present background traffic of automated bots and equipment, almost a hundred thousand devices within just a one-block radius. The sim-house two blocks over, full of VR addicts in their immersion tanks, drew enough electricity for thirty households, more than their own solar panels could make, and also sucked on the neighborhood power grid. The network traffic they generated was immense, enough to be visualized as thick red lines radiating out from the house through the mesh nodes.
No immediate danger. She got into the car, which drove itself to the airport. She and Leon had traded in the flying car for a marginally safer land-based vehicle after the baby was born. She overrode the car’s self-driving algorithms to take it well over the speed limit.
At the airport, she pulled up to the National Guard gate, broadcasting the ID she normally used with the Institute. They must have been expecting her, because the gate opened as she approached, and the soldiers and bots on guard stood at attention.
Since she had no official standing with the government or the Institute, they couldn’t have known who she was. But Mike had influence at the highest level, because the Institute for Applied Ethics oversaw all AI. Sure, those AI might be citizens of nation-states, but the Institute set the rules and policies the AI had to follow. With AI now responsible for 80 percent of the global economy, that made the Institute more influential than most countries.
She pulled up next to the supersonic transport, right on the tarmac at the end of the runway. The looming grey bulk looked odd, its dynamic airframe slack and limp on the ground, like it had sacks of jello strapped to the side. Whatever AI was flying was completely unaware of self-image. Weird, considering most AI tended to be image-conscious.
She instructed the car to take itself home, and climbed the steps in a hurry.
“
Mon Chaton!
”
Cat glanced up in surprise. “Helena! Mike didn’t mention . . .” She trailed off. Helena was a Durga Mark III, an armored battle bot with eight tentacles. But today Helena wore a seat belt and gripped her chair with multiple tentacles. If Cat wasn’t mistaken, the veteran bot appeared . . .
scared
. “Everything okay?”
“First real-world flight for the AI flying this thing. He got out of the incubator this morning.”
She switched to a heavily encrypted channel and sent a message by implant: “I could fly this thing better with half my sensors destroyed and two tentacles tied behind my back.” Out loud: “Better strap yourself in.”
