Detour

Detour

By Rasmus Nielsen, 2007



1 Underways

Tom and Delta were sitting in front of the broadcaster in their passenger cabin on board the shuttle after a fun vacation on the Mars resort. It was an hour till the scheduled arrival at the Venus Harbour docking station. They were watching a soap about some minerals clan with a lot of money and the endless row of marriages, extramarietal affairs, splitups, intrigues, and an occational accidental or non-accidental death whenever an actor found a more prestigious or better payed job, or got fired from the series. Tom didn't know much about the plot, only he'd decided he didn't like the gartner. Come to think of it actually he didn't know anything about him at all. But he'd been wearing a t-shirt with a schauvinist slogan on it, so he decided he didn't like him and was against whatever he stood for. Isn't it funny how an association like that can simply wash people and ideas off the sphere of relevance just like that. Anyways, as for the plot of the soap Tom had to rely on Delta to fill him in on the specifics of past episodes. Being a service android Delta didn't spend most of her time away from home, and therefor had more free time. Which she mostly spent in front of the broadcaster. This was a soap she was following. Which was a good thing for Tom, since it would otherwise have been absolutely impossible for him to see the point of anything that happened on the broadcaster screen. "That guy there is married to the lady with the titanium mines. But she had an affair with the gardner's android. They are married too. The gartner and the android. But see the problem is that the android is only married to the gartner, and the lady with the titanium mines is only married to the guy before. So they can not be married to each other. Because each of them are exclusively married to one, and only one, other person..." Tom hesitated a bit in face of the somewhat odd explanation, but chose to ignore it. "That figures, Delta," he replied. "That's in the definition of an extramarrietal affair." "Yes," replied Delta. "So I guess now the gartner and the guy who the lady with the titanium mines are gonna have to die." - "Not!" said Tom. "Do you really think they are going to die? If they love each other that much they could just get divorced, don't you think?" - "Yes," replied Delta. "They could get divorced. But that won't be 'till death do them part', see..." - "Ehm... So anyways you think it's more likely that their spouses will die than they will just get divorced and marry each other in stead?" "No they'll propably just get divorced and marry each other. That's more likely..." replied Delta. "I'll have a rest. My cognitive modules feel overheated," she said. She closed her eyes, and went into sleep mode. "Could sound like it," mumbled Tom, pondering over the strange conversation he just had with the android. There was a knock on the cabin door. "Room service," said the voice from the other side. "Come in," he replied. He bought a can of tea and biscuits. "Oh, and by the way," he said as the stewardess was about to leave:



"My service android here just said the strangest thing, and then complained of overheating. Is there anybody on board who could take a look at her just to make sure?" The stewardess smiled and took out the scheduler to make the reservation. "We have an AI psychologist. He's a bit busy now, but he can be here in oh, say about fifteen minutes." - "That would be nice. Thank you. It's propably nothing. But it's always better to safe than sorry, right?" - "Absolutely, miss," smiled the stewardess, and left the cabin. Tom started zapping between the channels to find something more entertaining. Perhaps this was something: Some robbers came out of a bank with a bag and got into the van. “Poof!..” red stains stood from the bag in a cloud.. “Dang!” said one of the robbers. Suddenly smoke started rising from the bag too. “Omg! That stinks!” cried one of the robbers as fireballs shot from the bag. An ornamental toy robot was shot down from the dashboard. “Roman candles too?!” They all threw themselves out of the van. Tom zapped on. He stopped at the Television History channel. They had an ancient talk show from the beginning of the twenty first century. Those ancient talkshows were usually really stupid. But kind of fun, the way the participants were always shouting at each other and disagreeing with each other about everything. On the screen were two people in funny looking clothes, sitting in each their chair, shouting at each other. "...Oh, oh, oh!" gasped one of them upset, in reaction to something the other one had said: "So I suppose next you are going to say women have no place on the job market either?! That women should stay home in the kitchen all day? Is that what you say, Milo?!" - "Yuck! Sticky" mumbled Delta, as she woke up and looked around in mild confusion. "Oh. Just association. I was dreaming." On the screen Milo took on his most innocent face, deliberately replying in his mildest, most overbearing voice like he was talking to a child: "Not at all, Meller. We were talking about androids. And I just said that obviously any particular female is uninteresting to any particular male to the extend that she is in any sense inavaileable to that male..." - "What a dork!" commented Delta. Milo continued: "...That is to say: Any particular female can only gain relevance at all to any particular male by making herself availeable to him." The other one looked like he was about to fall off the chair. "...And therefor," continued Milo: "The kind of women who require males to fight over them before they can or will deliver sex are obsolete now that we have it within our reach to create female androids particulaly designed and programmed according to the preferences of each individual male consumer. Just like the kind of male who need to fight over the females before he can get it up..." "Was all talkshows like that back then?" asked Delta. Tom shrugged. "Apparently." On the screen Meller had regained his calm. "I disagree," he said: "Modern civilization has pushed the eco system over the edge, we have passed the ecological point of no return. Modern civilization has made made trafic, and with it the spread of infectious disease, between continents in the course of few hours possible. The next deadly pandemic will clean out the human species at a scale unlike anything ever encountered in the history of mankind...



...How can you believe that technological civilization will exist long enough for androids to ever be set in production?.." - "How I can believe it?!" said Delta. "Duh! Where've you been for the last hundred years?!" - "It's a hundred years old show, Delta," Tom reminded her. On the screen Meller went on: "The future belong to the one percent of the one percent of the survivors of the next deadly pandemic outbreak, who can survive what comes after!" Now it was Milo who looked like he was about to fall off the chair: "Oh, so that's what you'd like, is it?! And I suppose you imagine that would be the big and strong bullies who can hit everybody else on the head with a big club?" - "No I don't believe that!" said Delta, offended. "Don't tell me what I'm supposed to believe!" - "Delta, you do realize he's not talking to you, don't you?" said Tom concerned. On the screen Meller shook his head: "Not at all. Fysical muscle is not the same as adaption. And noone behaving like that would survive as much as a week in a group in the wild without laws to protect them from having their throats slid in their sleep." "Are you threatening me?!" screamed Delta insulted. "Delta, they're not talking to you!" said Tom. "...And secondly," continued Meller on the screen; "it is very unlikely that such people would be among the original survivors at all. I heard of a study of a group of monkeys which got struck by a tuberculosis epidemic..." - "Don't call us monkeys!!" shouted Delta angry. "What if I called you monkeys?!" - "...It first and foremost wiped out the biggest and meanest individuals," continued Meller on the screen. "Oh yah?! Who's the big menie here, perhaps?!" cried Delta. "...That way nature maintain genetic diversity." "For crying out loud, Delta! They're not talking to you!!" cried Tom. "You psychopath!!" screamed Milo: "Would you really like to see us all die of H5N2 or pneubonic plague or some other hellish epidemic disease?!" - "Of course I wouldn't cried Delta in oproar. Don't say that about me!" - "I didn't say that!!" said Meller on the screen, insulted. "But that's what you meant, wasn't it you psychopath?!.." - "Yah Don't play innocent!" screamed Delta and kicked the Broadcasting screen. - "You're as raving mad as they are!" concluded Tom, and clicked Delta back into sleep mode. ... Neumann's schedule was as usual pretty relaxed. As information theory and AI expert his job on the shuttle mostly consisted in being around in case anything went wrong with the computer systems, and help the passengers out with changing batteries in the robotic toys they bought in the taxfree shops at the Mars docking station, or with explaining the contents of the instruction manuals to them. "Neumann, you better come to the cockpit for a second," said a voice on the intercom. We seem to be having some kind of trouble with the navigation subsystems." Neumann got up and went for the cockit next door. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked as he entered. "All the readouts are way off anything they should be," replied Cory, the second hand officer: "The coordinates show as if we were located somewhere in the far end of the galaxy. And the visual don't show anything at all. Even the



environmental is off. It doesn't pick up anything from the surrounding space: No Venus, no Earth, nothing at all! Obviously we had to bring the shuttle to a full stop.. Or, as close as we can, without navigation, so we don't fly blind."



Neumann nodded, not really listening anylonger, as he endulged himself in the debugging process. A ping from his comlink briefly brought him back. "What now?" he thought. It was a request for a passenger service session. He sent the "busy - 15 minutes" reply. Propably just another battery change anyways. He checked the fabrication number. "I'll be..." he mumbled. "That's a more than thirty years old model." It actually sounded like fun. Ah well. Back to the debug. After ten minutes of futile search for any sign of even the slightest bit of malfunction, the system scan was done. "The scan of the navigation system hasn't revealed anything wrong with it at all" he said, scratching his head. "I guess we simply must have ended up in the far end of the galaxy somehow." They all laughed at the joke. "Anyways I'll do a system printout so I can look at it in more detail. It should be done in about ten minutes. In the meantime I have a passenger request. I'll be back to look at the printout in ten." The officer raised his hand in a greeting. "Ok. See ya." Neumann left the cockpit and headed for the passenger cabine. He knocked on the door. "Come in," replied a man's voice from the other side. "Neumann. AI psychologist," he said, as he entered. "Tom," replied the man, and shook his hand. "Good thing you came," he said. "She was acting a bit weird earlier, but nothing much. But it seems to have gotten much worse. She just had herself a big argument with the broadcasting screen." - "I see. Perhaps you can repeat what she said?" said Neuman. "That would propably be a help for me to locate the more specific nature of the problem." Tom repeated it all as well as he could remember. Neumann listened in silence, nodding, scribbling down a note once in awhile. At last he got up. "I am a bit busy at the moment," he said. "But I would like to bring her back to my workshop for further examination and repairs. If it is possible, I mean. She is rather an old model." - "Ok," said Tom, "I understand. Though I hope it can be fixed. I'm sure you know how it is; one gets attached to an android. And thank you." - "I understand," smiled Neumann. "And no problem... between you and me, I'm sure I'll have a great time working with an old model like this. Usually people just need help with reading the manual and stuff like that." Tom woke up Delta. "This is doctor Neumann," he said when Delta came to. "He's an android psychologist. Follow him back to his workshop." Delta followed Neumann out of the cabin and down the hall towards the front end of the shuttle. "Let's walk and talk, Delta," said Neumann. "Ok," replied Delta. "Then we can be a walkie talkie." Neuman smiled. "I never before met an android who made puns," he grinned. "Delta laughed back." - "So Tom told me you had some problems recently?" - "Yes," replied Delta. "My visual and linguocognitive modules have been overheating lately." "I see," replied Neumann, and nodded. "Tom also told me you were having an argument with someone on the broadcaster.." - "Yes," replied Delta. "He was a real jerk. They both were. 'Said all kinds of insulting stuff about us. Called us monkeys." - "I see," said Neumann and nodded again. He stopped by the door to the workshop cabin and showed Delta inside. "Well, this is my workshop, Delta. I have to go get some printouts



at the cockpit. I'll be back briefly. You can watch the broadcast in the meantime if you'd like." "Thank you," said Delta, and switched on the broadcaster, as Neumann left. "Anything new?" he asked as he entered the cockpit. "See for yourself," said the second hand officer and gestured towards the main screen. Dead ahead what appeared to be some kind of a vortex was forming on the visual. "Hmm... Almost as if the entire navigation system is having holichoric hallucinations.." speculated Neumann out loud, as he retrieved the printouts. "Exactly," replied the officer. "Very strange," mumbled Neumann. "I'll get back to you when I had a look at these." "So what's going out the drain today," said Neumann as he entered the workshop. "The drain?" said Delta. "Yah you know: broadcast, the news, popular music, movies, people's chit chat... The big drain of all the garbage that goes around. The endless loop of obsolete reruns and other junk on its way into oblivium. The big drain. Don't get me wrong though; on occation it can be entertaining enough to watch. But after all you have to admit garbage is all it is and all it'll ever be." - "Ah, I see," said Delta. "So I guess Milo and Meller were just pissed off because someone put them in the garbage drain." "Delta, you do realise I was speaking metaphorically, don't you?" - "Yes, of course," replied Delta. "You made a comparison between the broadcaster and a garbage drain. That's a metaphor." Neumann nodded. "Very good, Delta. Hmm.." - "That was very clever," Delta continued: "Now they can't get out." - "Get out?!" asked Neumann puzzled. "What do you mean?" - "Milo and Meller. They can't get out because of the suction," explained Delta as the most obvious thing in the world. "Huh?! What suction?" - "Of the drain of course!" replied Delta. Neumann frowned, puzzled, and clicked Delta into hybernation mode. Obviously the problem extended beyond a single cognitive module. That would suggest something had been wearing down a wider range of modules. A defect data distribution module perhaps, or some kind of central overload. He switched off the broadcaster so he could work in quiet. Then he went to the table, sat down, and started working his way through the navigation system printouts from the cockpit.



2 Off Course

"This is seriously strange," mumbled navigation officer Bland as the minutes passed. "What is it?" asked Neumann who just returned from his workshop with the navigation system printouts. "Well, since the navigation system don't appear to show anything meaningfull, we were trying to find alternative ways of orientation..." Neumann nodded, interested. Bland continued: "So we got to think of the ancient technique of sending out an energy wave and calculate the distance and position from the object from the time it takes till the wave is reflected back and received again, and the angle.." "Sounds like a brilliant idea," replied Neumann. "So how did it go? What do you get?" "That's exactly it," replied Bland "We should have received the reflected energy already. But we haven't gotten anythig back.. It's as if Venus has simply vanished!" - "Hmm.. That is strange. You are not sending the signal around the navigation system, I asume." - "Obviously not. That was the whole idea.." - "The plot thickens," said Neumann: "I still haven't been able to find anything indicating any kind of problem with the navigation system." "However absurd it actually sounds like we somhow really have been transported to the far end of the galaxy," said Bland. This time it wasn't meant as a joke. And noone laughed. "I don't know, but there was one detail in the printouts. Nothing much. Just what appeared as a random fluctuation just as the external signals disappeared," said Neumann. "Please explain," said Bland. "Well, at the time I was examining the data I was asuming there was a navigation system breakdown, and the data fluctuation just indicated the point when reception broke down. Except I couldn't find anything indicating anything wrong with the system... But suppose there actually never was a navigation system breakdown at all, but we were actually somehow transported to the position we're reading. We would have to asume some kind of spontaneous dimentional gate or something to explain how it happened. But if that is the case then the datafluctuation would contain the information that was received as the shuttle were transferred to its present position." Neumann brought up the input pattern graphics of the printout data on his com. "See all the nice wave forms here were the meaningful data the system were receiving as it was receiving meaningful data of Venus and Earth, at the positions it was measuring. Then the abrubt break here from which point there is only noise, random data, signifying empty space. But notice the brief wave fluctuation at the point of transition between the two states... On the face of it it looked just like a data glitch where the system goes haywire. But if we're asuming that it wasn't and that the shuttle was actually transported to the far end of the galaxy, then it would rather be the readouts of information received from the whatever phenomenon transported us here. Studying it may give us a better idea of the nature of that phenomenon. And more importantly; perhaps of how we can get back." Bland nodded. "Sounds like it's worth a try."



The computer projected the comparative analysis of the fluctuation data sequence against existing theories of relevance to be about half an hour at most. "In the meantime the most productive course of action seem to be to gather information about the vortex phenomenon ahead of us for the scientists back on Earth. "And I'll get back to the passenger android. It's actually an intriguing case for a change." - "Well, have fun then," replied the second hand. "I'm sure I will," replied Neumann. "See ya." "We seem to have a new situation," said the first officer, as Neumann left the cockpit. On the main screen a frame had opened to display an object in space about half a light second away, and closing in. "You gotta be kidding," said the captain as they enhanced the image. "It's the missing shuttle SS Balgair. They've been lost for decades. It appear to be following our course. However did it end up all they way out here?" - "Propably the same way we did," replied the second hand. The first hand shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "Who knows why or where people and spacepods have disappeared over the years?" he said: Noone knows why Hans disappeared away team as well as Han himself, to never come back... Like the episode of that entire delegation of alternates just vanished without a trace, never to reappear... Or like when that purpur depeche disappeared as if out of existence. All just examples of those disappearances in the history of space travel that will most likely never be solved..." A new frame opened on the main screen, to show a second object, apparently followng the shuttle's course behind the first one, and approaching at the same pace. They enhanced the image. "This is getting weirder and weirder," mumbled the first hand. There was no mistaking the object in the frame on main screen: It was a flying saucer of the kind you'd see in an old black and white celophane movie from the mid 20th century. Yet another frame opened as a third object appeared behind the two others... ... Tom was sitting in his cabin, watching the broadcaster. It was the Television History Channel as usual, showing an interview with some danish nobody writer bitching about his diagnosis and how unfair he was being treated. "If a guy is gonna do the time anyways then he might as well do the crime, and get as much of it as anyhow possible, right?" he said. "Ah well, being labeled "crazy" is not without its advantages. Of course being denied the right to a job or an education or love or reproduction may be considered a problem. But heck what've you got whores for, right? No wonder so many males prefer fantasies of nuclear and bacteriological mass killings. And although I'm not gonna count the fact that I am entitled to money withot having to work, since that can only be considered a kind of disguized financial compensation, there are other bright sides to a "schizophrenic" label: For example it means that I can pretty much get away with saying anything at all if noone is taking what I say seriously anyways. And it allows me to smear the credibility of any technology, filosophy, political viewpoint I may see fit, simply by showing positive interest in it.



Especially if I garnish it with lots of unpopular views. For example; who would be caught dead working with artificial intelligence now, unless they have an urge for, in the same breath, defending ufos, sea serpents, bigfoot, women-back-to-the- kitchen, animal testing, deliberate evil as a moral imperative, homosexuality, fecal-, urinal-, and animal sex, incestuous relationships, gayporn, snuffporn, childporn, or that it's really the natural order of things for parents to give their underage children "hands on" and concrete sexual education, etc., etc.? Plus whatever else sexual deviation I may have forgotten to mention, too. Might as well take precaution anything now that I'm at it. Whatever my imagination may be stretched to come up with. Then I just have to tone down my ecological sympathies, but hey I should be able to manage that. And if I ever get bored and decide to rob a licquor store or publish a recipy for a bioviral weapon then I can always just say that the voices made me do it. And there'd be nothing anybody could do about it, because that would imply questioning the validity of the diagnosis, which is absolutely unheard of: Once the danish psychiatric system has made up its mind about a patient (which it usually does in about ten seconds), the decision is beyond question as for what any official instance concerns. At least you got to admire the tenacity of the danish authorities when it comes to prevent a dissident from making a succesful living that could stand in contraddiction with his 'looser' image..." Tom clicked the broadcaster off and got up. He was bored. He decided to go to doctor Neumann's workshop to check on how it was going with Delta. ... Back in the workshop Neumann had disconnected Delta's artificial brain and was in the process of bugtesting it submodule by submodule. There seemed to have been a general wearing down of categorical integrity taking place over the years, though it appeared most advanced for the linguocognitive modules. There was a knock on the door. "Come in," he said. It was the passenger who owned the android. "Oh, welcome, mister Tom. I asume you have come to hear how it is going with Delta. Come on in. Make yourself at home." "Thank you, doctor Neumann," said Tom. "Are you sure I am not disturbing?" - "Quite the contrary. It's just nice with a bit of compagny," replied Neumann. "She's quite an antique model," he continued. "Yes," replied Tom. "I had her since I was a kid. She used to read books to me when I was younger: Jules Verne.. Ray Bradburry.. Orson Welles.. Kafka.. Foucault..." Neumann looked at him in surprise: For real?! I mean half those authors are illegal in most states!" - "I swear, doctor, I got all those books before the book ban act of '79..." "Sure you did. Relax. I'm not gonna report ya," said Neumann. "'Tell you the truth I like literature myself. And besides I'm bound by the the doctor-client confidence." He smiled. "I'm just surprised that the factory spyware hasn't alarmed the authorities long ago.." He shrugged. "Ah well, you know how it is; as long as you don't stop the money train they just like to have something on you. I heard that Benefactors Inc. are even pushing illegal



literature to people if they don't have anything else... Oh, but you didn't hear that from me, by the way."



"Oh. Well actually I disconnected her transmitter," replied Tom. "See I got tired of her advertizing for the latest lawnmower or television set in the middle of every third time we had sex." - "You disconnected her transmitter?!? - And they let you get away with it?" "Never had any trouble because of it that I know of." Neumann shrugged. "Oh, well even though it's obvious you got attached to her and all that I should inform you none the less that it's not standard procedure to actually repairing androids..." "Oh, I realize that, doctor, and I'm very thankful for taking the time to..." - "No sweat. It's ok," replied Neumann. "In fact I think it's fun. I'm just telling you because I have to. Between you and me the robotics dealers always tell people that their robots can't be repaired or that it'd cost more than to buy a new one, just so they can keep selling new models." - "Really?" asked Tom. "Sounds like something taken out of the psychiatry and medical industry of a hundred years ago." - "Oh? How so?" "Well," replied Tom: "A view that generated patients in need of medical aid, and deviants in need of cosmetic and fashion "improvements", rather than a natural variation of people with different skills and qualities simply made more money. Brought customers to the shop, so to speak. So far into the twenty first century there was a strong bias among established medical professionals towards viewing any kind of deviation, from whatever standard they decided was "the norm", as a kind of deficiency, rather than as a variation or specialization. So that, for example, it was widely considered that the more symmetric a person's facial features was the more "healthy" he or she was considered to be. They even discouraged breeding with "asymmetric" people. Can you imagine that? Or, as another example: They believed that only the most widespread variation of the default optic focal distance of the eyes was natural, whereas they considered any deviation from that standard as a deficiency; "astigmatism", which had to be "corrected" with optic lenses in front of the eyes. Needless to say a lot of people suffered from migraines because of that. They chose to completely ignore the factual reality of the necessity biodiversity." "Biodiversity?" asked Neumann. Tom explained: "Without genetic diversity a species can not survive for extended periods of time: Ever so often some larger scale disasterous event comes along and cause radical changes of the biological niche. Which individuals survive, and what the requirements of survival will be after the disaster is more or less up to sheer chance. So if there is not a sufficiently broad selection of variations within the gene pool of the species, so that chances are at least some of them are suited for survival under the new, altered conditions, the species as a whole can not survive. Biologists in the beginning of the twenty first century knew this principle very well. But society in general, led by financial interests, chose to ignore it. That's also why the pharmaceutical industry back then hardly invented any actual cures at all:



If anyone was to invent an actual cure for cancer or aids or mental disturbances or anything else, I think I can pretty much guarantee that noone would ever fund the production of it or even the publishing of the research. Cures don't sell. Or more to the point; cures don't keep selling. The pharmaceutical industry of around 2000 was first and foremost interested in selling pharmaceuticals. Ever which way they could get away with it. They had no interest in cures that would end a patient's need for pharmaceutical treatment. "I don't understand how come psychologists didn't see the obvious," said Neumann. Tom shrugged. "The late twentieth and early twenty first century psychology was, like the humanioras in general, mostly a game of "playing science" in disregard, or even suspiciousness, of any inconvenient empiric facts and any kind of fact related method. After all it is much more fun trying to guess why other people behave as they do or wrote what they did. Rather than for example asking them to just get the answer handed over. Or than using fail safe methodologies to make sure of not applying motives or opinions on them which were never their own. Not to forget, of course, the conveniance of having official "justification" for applying whatever opinions and motives arbitrarily onto the words and acts of other people, to have 'unfortunate' viewpoints branded by sheer association with something unpopular." Neumann's com beeped. "I have to get back to the cockpit," he said. "Ok. I'll get back to my quarters then," said Tom.



3 Vortex

When Neumann entered the cockpit the computer was done analysing the fluctuation data sequence. He looked over the projected models. "Any results?" asked the first hand. "Hmm.. Well... It would appear the most fitting model is the informational loop model proposed by Pylodoshin in 2083. It's a branch of the general modern information theory of existence. Acording to this theory existing entities - such as dust particles in space - may on extremely rare occations be caught in an informational endless loop." "I'm no expert in iformation theories," said the first hand. "Please explain." "Ok," said Neumann: "As I'm sure you know informational theories of existence fundamentally view reality as a metacognitive phenomenon; in terms of information. Mostly popularized as something like a 3D computer simulation. An informational endless loop is when a realized entity - an object, a particle, etc. somehow end up following its own course through the time/space continuum. In a diagrammatic projection we would depict that as a circular set of vectors. However, due to the principle of innate random variations, however, the loop is never absolutely perfect: There will always be at least a weak drift either towards the centre; an inwards spiral loop, or away from the centre of the circle; an outwards spiral loop..." "What's in the centre?" asked the second hand. "Nothing." replied Neumann. "Absolute nothing: Non-existance. As entities caught in an informational inwards spiral approach its centre their degree of reality decrease. Not very much at the edge of the vortex, but rapidly close to the centre. If an entity could actually reach the centre it would at that point have ceased to exist in absolute terms." There was a brief moment of silence. Neumann continued: "Anyways, once such a loop is established other entities in existence entering it tend to get caught up in the loop too, so over time a vortex is formed..." - "Sounds like the phenomenon dead ahead of the shuttle," said the first hand. "But we didn't get here through the vortex. Then we would have been moving away from it, not towards it." Neumann waved him off and continued: "No. The vortex itself is not a portal. But according to the mathematics of the theory secondary phenomena tend to emerge in its vicinity. Such as portal phenomena linking far positions in space together. It was propably such a portal phenomenon that brought us here. Such phenomena are supposedly rather instabile and only remain for few minutes. But they emerge all the time, and should be reasonably easy to modify once they are established. The data sequence from the navigation system printout contain information of the properties of the portal that brought us here. They should allow us to generate a reverse replica of the original portal from an emerging portal, which can get us back on our original heading to Venus. As we approach the vortex chances are we'll get within useful distance of an emerging portal sometime within the next hour." - "Spendid!" uttered the first hand officer. "Though, we ought to stay awhile to collect data for the Earth scientists."



"Both of the vortex, and of those things, whatever they are." He gestured towards the main screen, where the frames showing the objects had been merged for reasons of visual simplicity; showing now literally hundreds of mythic objects following the shuttle in a long, neat line, like pearls on a string. "So we can figure out a way to get rid of them so they don't follow us back to our solar system." - "Well," said Neunann. "It sounds like I better leave you guys in peace so you can get your work done collecting data." With those words he left the cockpit and went back to his workshop. ... It had been announced over the intercom that there were technical problems so the arrival at the Venus docking station would be delayed a couple of hours. Tom was watching the broadcaster when doctor Neumann knocked on the cabin door. He had Delta with him. "I think she should be alright now," he said. "Thanks a whole lot," said Tom. "I can't say how much it means to me that she could be repaired. I would really've missed her if..." He couldn't bring himself to finished the sentence, and stopped. "No problem," replied Neumann. "I'm glad I could help. As I already said I quite enjoyed working with a real problem for a change. Only I'm sorry it took so long. We ran into some other trouble..." - "Yah, they said on the intercom we'd be delayed," said Tom. "Hope it won't be too long.. Oh, please come in and have a cup of tea. If you have time, I mean." - "Thanks. That would be very nice," replied doctor Neumann and followed Delta into the cabin. "So what was the problem with her?" asked Tom. "Oh, it's a bit technical, actually," said Neumann. "Are you sure you want to listen to it?" - "Very much," replied Tom. "Well then," started Neumann. "I think the problems originally arose from elongated data overflow in the visual system. See, a binocular optic extention to the eyes has been added a long time ago, which drastically enhance the visual input. Only the original visual system receiving the input isn't designed for handling the massive amount of data thus received from the optically enhanced eye units. So the brain has been compensating by borrowing capacity from other systems. Primarily from the auditive system, since that usually has resources to spare. Except in surroundings that provide a lot of auditive input as well so that the auditive systems are already hard stung. In such cases the lacking resources had to be borrowed from other systems. In the long run eroding the processes of systems such as the cognitive thought and language systems. Hence the recent complaints of thought disturbances and the occuring complaints of paranoid notions like something "trying to invade her thoughts" lately. Actually quite accurate descriptions: Something WAS in fact intruding on her thoughts; namely other cognitive systems trying to borrow processing recources. Or more to the point; the cognitive systems were in a state of decay in which the processes of other systems had started to merge with them so the borders between categories had started to dissolve. I have dealt with this problem by redrawing the main outlines of the inflicted categories, so the built in self repair functions have a sound base for doing the detail recovery. And, obviously, by



removing the cause of the visual overflow.



For of course although the overflow problem and borrowing resources from other systems wouldn't be a big deal if it was a one-time-only event, or only occuring once in awhile. But given that it has been the more or less constant state of affairs for decades ever since the binocular enhancement was installed, I'm quite frankly amazed she hasn't experinced much worse trouble, and much sooner. Anyways, sinc e I couldn't replace the visual cortex as such, I overcome the overflow problem simply by detaching the binocuar extention whenever it is not strictly needed. And to further bring down the strain and aid the recovery process further I also introduced an auditive dimmer extention to bring down the data flow of the auditive input. Now, as for the more immediate specific symptoms which had arisen as a result of the erosion: It would appear that they primarily arose from the linguo-cognitive moule. Some trouble seemed to be developing with distinguishing between literal and metaphoric use of language, and with correctly delimiting certain concepts. I believe it was certain relational concepts that finally caused the cascade of instabilities you described from your conversation with her: It would appear that the interpretor was no longer able to fully distinguish between the meaning of "being married to" and "being acquainted with." That's why she had been making those strange statements of being "exclusively" married as an aid to maintain the conceptual integrity. Though that brought her in conflict with the heap of different Benefactors spyware lying around her memory. Because for inscrutable reasons - presumably camouflage - the programmers of spyware have had a preference for analogizing the callback connection to Benefactors Inc with the words for different family- and other social relations. So her language module then in stead had to compensate by moderating the concept so that it would allow for necessary exceptions. A solution that works reasonably well. However, that still appear to have resulted in the somewhat paradoxical situation that she then believed to be "married" to several other people. So obviously it was imperative that her language module relearn to distinguage between literal uses of language on one hand, and metaphoric, analogous, fictive, etc. uses of language on the other. That is; so it is not to result in a situation in which for example the concept of "being married to" would eventually loose any feature distinguishing it from the concept of "being acquainted with", so that the concept would not allow for example for anyone at all to be "married to" anyone else at all. As for the concrete mixup of relations I have renamed each of the metaphoric analogies for the feedback connections to the particular numeric coordinate of the particular network node it feeds back to, so that confusion with actual, concrete social and family relations is avoided. And as for the general ability to distinguish literal uses of language from other language modes I have added a second interpretor module, so that there are now two seperately distinct interpretation modules:



One module dealing with literal interpretations to do with the concrete world, and another module dealing with non-literal interpretations to do with hypothetic, analogous, fictive, etc. models. Also, to overcome the overinterpretation problem I have introduced a general rule of moderation: Concepts and statements are no longer treated in an absolute non/all fashion, but are in stead weighted with a modifyable relative value between 0 and 1. That way items hitherto treated as "absolutely true" are weighted as almost 1, whereas items hitherto treated as "absolutely false" are weighted as almost 0. That way the output is generally the same as under the old "all/none" rule, but modifyable according to the requirements of the circumstances. I have also beefed up the capacity of the intentionality interpretor so that it is better able to distinguish between different directions of intentionality, so it no longer confuse the different identities involved in the models of interpretation. That way, for example, it does not confuse different identities which happen to be identified by the same name, and does not think that communications between other people are directed to the her, and don't, for example, confuse such occurances as songs on the radio or talk on a tv-set, with communication streams from Benefactors Inc, and don't interpret them as being directed at her or other identities in the fysical surroundings. Finally bits and pieces of redundant junk had been getting in conflict with more recent processes. So I have discarded all the redundant leftovers from previous iterations away to be recycled and dissolved, and introduced functions which automatically discard of redundant and obsolete cognitive items that way, so it won't happen again. All the old Benefactors Inc spyware I couldn't remove directly will most likely be automatically discarded of that way too. She's a whole new android. In fact, with some of the improvements I've introduce you might say she's a brand new kind of android. I actually ought to patent them. But hey, who can afford a patent application, unless they're already millionaires, right?" ... "Hmm.. It's quite a collection we've got back there," said the first hand officer, scratching his head. "Long since disappeared spacecrafts being the least mysterious. Then we've got flying saucers. Many of them appearing to be exact replica of ancient film props. And as if that wasn't enough there are space born sea serpents, bigfoots and yetis, and many other even more mysterious things. It's still up for debate wether that was a zipper that could be made out on the back of the Godzilla movie monster. I mean if it almost sound like a practical joke!" "Perhaps it's an alien species who somehow read our minds to take on the forms of stuff they find in our memories? ..With a preference for kitch, apparently," suggested the second hand. They had been atempting communication. Especially the reappeared



disappeared crafts had been a source for hope. But with little success. An exaple:



Captain: Marsliner BS3529 calling Explorer 5 come in. Reply: This is Explorer 5. Hello Marsliner BS3529. Captain: This is the captain speaking. Naturally we are very excited to learn of what has happened to you since your disappearance. Reply: Hello the captain speaking. - Why are you very excited to learn of what has happened to you since your disappearance? Captain: Eh.. Who is this I am speaking to? Reply: Are you often speaking to? Captain: Is your captain on board? Can I speak to your captain, please? Reply: You seem unusually interested in my captain. - Maybe you can speak to your captain if you believe in it enough... At this point the conversation had been interrupted by Neumann's laughter. "Captain, you appear to be speaking to an ancient chatbot of the Eliza type.. A simple computer program invented in the early 1950s, which is to a very limited degree able to have a kind of conversation. Not very advanced." - "I see," replied the captain. "Actually," said the second hand. "I used to study some of the ancient myths of ufos and similar. And what you say remind me of something which struck me back then: Namely their remarkably stereotypical behaviour patterns. Pretty much like the kind of Non Player Characters, or 'NPCs', some computer games like simulated worlds operate with. Like they have some standard function to perform, such as abducting people, attracting the attention of unsuspecting spectators on desolate roads, and so on. In other words; like they are actually following each its relatively simple programme." Neumann nodded. "There have been atempts to explain these sort of phenomena in very similar terms, within information theory..." He paused, thinking. "Let's asume that those theories are correct. Then the fact that they are just drifting arbitrarily around in space could suggest that they are redundant or obsolete leftovers of past iterations of existence..." - "Past iterations?" asked the second hand. "You lost me again. Please explain." Neumann nodded. "Ok. According to applied information theory reality comes into existence in cycles... ...Thus the travel of an independently conscious entity, or, with a term from Leibnitz; a 'monad', along the timeline may be visualized as travelling along the course of a cylindric spiral. The extend of one cycle around, or along, the timeline is identical with the frequency of that monad. Each such cycle is called an iteration, and a monad can thus be viewed as a kind of 'reality pump' where potential future goes 'into' the monad in one end, to be actualized into existence, and deactualized 'out of' the monad in the



other end as potential past."



"Potential past?!" asked the second hand. Neumann explained: "Yes. We usually think of time as a tree structure where we come from a well defined past, moving along a branching path of choises, towards one of multiple possible futures. However, applied modern information theory operates with multiple possible; or more precisely potential, pasts as well. The reason for this is that recollection of the past in human memory, which is ultimately what empiric sources to the past comes down to in the end, does not function as a simple replay, but is actually a reconstruction of events. One may of course argue from a common sense point of view that that is an epistemic or methodic problem. Not reflecting any 'external' ontology. But as we know from quantum mechanics we can't always expect any 'external' or pre-perceived ontologic reality to behave in ways that we as humans are capable of conceiving. Ultimately we just have to conclude that the mathematics works that way, as is demonstrated by such technologies matter synthesis or space-time leaping, without which a travel between Venus and Mars like the one we are on would take months..." "Ok," said the first hand. "But what about the NPC things?" - "That's right," said Neumann: "Asuming they are obsolete leftovers from previous iterations that could explain why they would be following our shuttle: No longer serving a purpose they so to speak have no direction to follow but to drift along the directional flow of the space they occupy." - "Directional flow?" asked the first hand. "Well," replied Neumann: "Imagine for a moment the course of the space shuttle, the dynamic of the vortex away there, etc. in mathematical terms of information; in other words as vectors. As I'm sure you know; a vector is a mathematical expression consisting of a set of coordinates. It is usually depicted visually as an arrow; having a direction and a length or a velocity - in a multidimentional coordinate system. Thus, with modern computers complex movements such as weather systems or oceanic streams can be depicted at any given time, in terms of vectors. Take for example the relatively simple occurance of the vortex forming around the drain of a sink or a bath tub: The dynamic of the whole system may be depicted in a three dimentional coordinate system where each coordinate has a vector - an arrow - describing in which direction and at what speed the water is flowing past that particular point. Now, the reason why those things have been following our vessel may actually be much simpler than any hypothesis of "motivation" or other things which would prescribe human-like, or at least mammal-like, awareness or intelligence... The explanation could be as simple as they are simply following the overall flow of the vectors of the space they occupy, and have thus simply been caught up in the slipstream of the shuttle. In principle that means that we should be able to simply dump them into the vortex: The vortex obviously makes up a much more forceful flow of vectors, than our slipstream. So by flying once or twice around the vortex all those things caught in our slipstream gets caught up in the motion of the vortex in stead, where they eventually, so to speak, gets sucked out of existence.



Or more to the point, information theory wise; dissolved in original chaos; or as we may say; informational noise. By staying in the vicinity of the vortex our vessel can escape its pull, but the flow of our slipsteam of course add to increase the overall dynamic flow in the direction around the vortex; making that pull stronger than that of the shuttle itself, so that the NPC-like things that followed in our slipstream will continue the spiral motion into the vortex as we ourselves break free of it." "Make it so," said the captain. "And make sure to collect as much data as we can for the Earht scientists while we're circling around." Entering into a course around the vortex, the shuttle was pulling the swarm of NPCs following it with it. "Captain," called a porter from the door where he was standing with a young couple. "Ah, that's right," said the captain. "I sceduled unmarrying this couple. If you'll excuse me. I trust you can handle things back here by yourself." Then he turned his attention to the porter and the couple at the door. "Repeat after me: I unpromise taking anyone or anything! - I unpromise having or holding anyone or anything! - I undo taking anyone or anything to anyhow be a wedded spouse of mine! With this word I all unwed! - I hereby unpronounce us!" - "We've broken free of the vortex" said the first hand. On the main screen they followed as the shuttle increased the distance to the vortex behind it, and the swarm of NPCs caught in it like confetti whirling in slow motion out the drain of a giant kitchen sink.



4 Heading Home

"There is a portal emerging at 26,105 degrees, distance 828,2 kilometers. Analysing initial parameters and calculating parameters of modification matrix." informed the first hand officer. They had decided they weren't gonna get any more useful data off the vortex and the swarm of NPCs caught in it. "Modification parameters locked," replied Neumann, and projected the modifying matrix on the emergence. "Countdown initiated. Cascade expected in twelve seconds." - "Why is it called a cascade?" asked the second hand. "Why not critical mass?" "Because the modification matrix does not work on accumulation. Imagine it in stead like a kind of virus - in fact that's why it's also called a 'vaccine': Each new repro taken by itself might, if it penetrate the right type of host cell, cause the mutation which turn it into a supervirus. Thus removing limiting the buildup of viral cells won't prevent the supervirus from eventually emerging and complete the modification, since all it takes in the end is just one single infected cell of the right type. Not a critical sum." The seconds ticked by as the shuttle approached the emergence. The cascade appeared as expected at 12,07 seconds. "Bravo. Set the course through the portal so we can get back to our solar own system" said the captain. "Great work everybody." ... Tom and Delta were watching the broadcaster. A voice over the intercom pronounced "We have solved the technical problems and are now on our way again. We expect to reach the Venus docking station in about an hour. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. Have a nice flight." - "Ah. So we're heading home again," said Tom. "They say that 'home is where the heart is'," said Delta. "That's a metaphor, right?" - "Right on," said Tom. "Do you know what it means?" - "It means whereever one would like to be, right?" - "Exactly. Very good, Delta." On the Television History channel Milo and Meller were having another tempered argument. Milo were in the middle of launching another crusade against the female gender: "The question of wether it is women or men who start all the wars is I think much a question of how you look at it. Where do you place the blame for someone getting hit by a stone? Do you blame the stone that hit the victim? Or do you blame the person who threw the stone?" - "There you go again," yelled Meller. "You know, I think you just need to get layed. Plane and simple. I'm sure if you cut your hair, shaved up, and found yourself a nice ladyfriend she would change your mind." "Oh you think so, do you?!" replied Milo. "Or maybe she'll only confirm it. I have yet to meet a woman who did not in the end turn out to be basically, well, a whore who required wealth and status for what she would call 'love'. Of all the females I've known and I've known a few - I have never known one who was in the end worth living with..."



"That was the same guy who was positively minded about android love dolls, right?" asked Delta. "Yes," replied Tom. "Why do you ask?" - "Oh, I just wanted to get very clear on that point." On the broadcasting screen milo continued: "And since I don't expect to be proven wrong about that anytime soon, then I shall proclaim myself once again the winner of the taunting right over any looser - person or deity - who ever tried to convince anyone of anything different." He got up from his chair and started dancing around on the set, singing "Loosers... Loosers... Loosers...", while Meller stared at him in offended disbelief. "Yah yah," said Meller. "But you also approve of robotics, so..." - Milo ignored him. "Oh," he continued; "and as for the rediculous claim that women should be more intelligent than males... Well, males are known to flatter females with the most rediculous claims. And females are known to eat it raw... The stupid cows are always whining about their boyfriends being stupid and inconsiderate assholes. Well, who picked the stupid and inconsiderate assholes in the first place?!" Milo took a couple of dance steps again, to make the point. "loosers.. loosers.." Then he continued: "And just look at what's required of females today in the name of equality, and tell me again exactly who got fooled in that game..." Now Meller couldn't restraint himself anylonger. "You bastard! Just because I haven't had any for a week you don't see me acting like that.." - "Oh yah," replied Milo triumphantly: "That's right. All you rediculous whiners: 'Buuuuhhuuuu I haven't had any for a week' ... "Buuuuuuhhuuuuu I haven't had any for a whoooole month.' Take it like men you freakin weaklings! Come back when you haven't had any for a decade or two, and then we can talk about it. Till then you're nothing but a bunch of whining crybabies!.." He took another couple of dance steps. "Loosers... loosers..." "Once again," said Delta: "This was the guy who was in favour of robotics, right?" "Right!" replied Tom. "Ok. Just wanted to get that point absolutely clear." On the broadcasting screen Meller's face was turning red like a lobster. Then he got a hold of himself again. "Oh yah? Well some very wise man, Karma, I think his name was, once said that what you give is what you get back. And I'm sure if you just tried giving generosity and forgiveness a chance then you would see what mister Karma ment by that." Milo just waved him off. "Generosity and forgiveness have been tried. In fact I have tried it mysel. Just like democracy, communism, christianity, satanism, islam, zionism, national socialism, budhism, marriage, law-and-order, capitalism, and any other religion, it has been given a more than reasonable chance to prove that it didn't work. When has leniance and giving away for nothing ever given anything in return, other than talk and disppointments? When has good intentions ever been returned with anything but atempts to provoke you to deliver even the slightest excuse to overlook the good you gave?"



"But that is plane wrong! I simply won't believe it! It is not necessary to take from the happiness of others in order to add to ones own happiness! Love does not hurt! If that is your experience then I'm sure it must be because you just haven't given it enough time." Milo shook his head unimressed: "I have tried giving it as much time as is reasonable, and more. I have been just as fair in my assessment as that and those which judged me have been. And even more so. If my harsh asessment is wrong then prove it wrong! Untill then I shall be the winner of this argument, and anyone and anything who ever tried to convince me or anyone else different are loosers." "Very well then," said meller in a hurry before Milo could start dancing his loosers-dance again: "What kind of argument would convince you?!" - "Asch! That's the whole point. Arguments are just talk, talk, talk... By that very nature of arguments they serve only confirm my point. No argumentation anyone can come up with can ever change that fact and so I am the winner of this argument and anyone and anything who ever tried to convince me otherwise are loosers and a rediculous joke. And that wins me the right of taunting." He started dancing around again: "Loosers... loosers... loosers..." Milo sat down again. "Pop-mysticism is filled with much bullshit like that: "you only get what you give", or "in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make", as a couple of pop-songs express it. The problem with such truisms is that they pretend to yield reasons to supposedly "explain" people's good or bad fortunes. But all they really do is actually just to deliver excuses or justification for the inequalities. Such truisms does in actuality not explain anything at all!" - "Oh, you don't think so?" shouted Meller upset. "I know so," replied Milo: "For that would imply that by acting well one would actually receive good things in return. But although few examples of that actually happening could possibly be given, I am not aware that such examples are by any means the norm. Quite the contrary in fact. And what is even worse: Such truisms not only explain away injustices which could otherwise be dealt with rationally, but even add insult to injury for the unfortunate, by atempting to blame their misfortune on themselves. Are we for example to accept that hunger struck people in Ethiopia 'only get what they give' and leave it at that? Is that a good explanation to why they are struck with hunger? Of course not! It does not qualify as an explanation at all. Is it a good excuse for leaving them to starve? No. Not a good one. But the example does clarify how it takes on the formal appearance of an excuse rather than of an explanation It reminds me of one of the stories in the collection of the Grimm brothers; 'Mister Corbes', where a lot of animals and things decide to go to Mister Korbe's house and kill him in a horrible fashion. And the so called "morale" to the story of Mister Korbes is that noone actually knows what the poor man has ever done to deserve such a fate. But the mere fact that they killed him can serve to ensure them all that 'he must have been a very bad person' A perfect illustration of the psychology of scapegoating, don't you agree? The popularity of such truisms stem merely from the fact that they allow the fortunate to view and



promote themselves and their luck as "justified" and "deserved", while they deliver riddles for the less fortunate to ponder on, to keep them occupied and pasified."



"How on Earth does that harmonize with your views on women and robotics?!" said Meller confused. "Frankly I have no idea. But it just occured to me, so I had to write it down." He took out a little notebook and started to scribble in it. "Neat way to get around that one," said Delta as Tommoved acrobatically around a pile of clothes on the floor, to get to the remote control and shut off the broadcaster. "Yah, don't you think?" ... They all held their breaths as the shuttle passed through the portal. A sigh of relief escaped them as Venus and Earth, and the normal flight route readouts reappeared on the main screen. "It worked!" cheered the second hand. "We're back on the route, one hour from reaching Venus." After the captain had announced to the passengers that the 'technical problems' had been solved ant the shuttle was on its way again they sat down to rest. "So Neumann, how did it go with that android?" asked the second hand officer as he had poured himself a cup of tea. "Just fine," replied Neumann. It was an old model. A real antique. Surprising that it hasn't needed repairs before. They sure made'em more durable back in the old days." - "It's not usual procedure to actually repair old droids is it? Why not just junk it if it's so old?" said the first hand. "Well, you know, the passenger got attached. And besides it was fun to work with. The first hand shrugged and Newmann continued: "As it turned out the problems were caused by weardown of the linguocognitive systems due to a secondary installation that had been overloading the system ever since it was installed. No wonder the system was worn down. So basically I redrew the main categories and let the secondary installation disconnect whenever it's not absolutely needed, so the selfmaintenence functions can get peace to perform the basic level repairs." - "So you think it'll recover?" "I'm pretty sure it will. After all an android cortex is based on the basic functionality of a human cortex, with its inherent flexibility and capability to recover from even relatively severe traumas." The second hand frowned, wondering. "I heard of that. But I always wondered about it. I mean, I know that an android brain is build up of modules to handle specific functions, like the brain supposedly has particular areas for particular things. And I also heard that brain cells are not replaced once they are destroyed. So if a brain area got damaged then how can it just recover?" "Well," replied Neumann: "A brain - at least as far as we are talking about the cortex - is a flexible system. Each area so to speak learn its functionality. If one area gets damaged then other areas typically learn to perform in its place. The location of different functional areas is mostly a matter of acquisition. The newborn brain has connections all over, most of which disappear in the course of growth as they are not used. Consider the fact that most, but not all, lefthanded people develop their main language systems in the right hemisphere. Which also controls the left hand. As is oposite of - most - right handed people. Such examples show that the location of cortical areas is variable.



And studies with transplanting brains, entirely or in part, between different species of reptiles, even suggest that this fundamental adaptivity runs as deep as to the basic levels of fysiologic implementation. So that if we imagine for example hypothetically switching the auditory and the visual sensory input to the cortex of a newborn brain, one could suspect that it would merely result in auditory and visually related centres respectively developing in different areas of the cortex than what is typically the case in normal brains, but presumably just as functional none the less. The organism, and with it the brain, does not evolve according to a fixed inborn blueprint. That is something the pharmaceutical industry of the late 20th and early 21st century would like people to believe so they could make their sales speeches sound more likely. Just like it is not true that the human brain is hardwired from birth for any particular way of living. In fact the human brain is not hardwired from birth for very much other than the most basic features and skills enabling it to adapt to the surroundings in which it develop. Not walking in tact in a long line is not a traumatic experience! Human species, and its nervous system, is the product of an evolutionary history of adaptation to ever changing circumstances. During which evolution different behaviours and fysiological traits have been acquired and discarded again. If the nervous system and the genom did not have the fundamental flexibility that makes this possible we would never have evolved this far. Apart from which the genom simply does not contain near enough information for such a blueprint. What the genom contains, with respect to ontogenesis, is a set of latencies which, together with the fysiologic surroundings, the laws of fysics, etc., make up certain constraints on the possible and likely courses of development of the organism and of the brain. And likewise; what the nervous system is inherently hardwired with from birth is not particular traits and behaviours to determine particular feats. But rather latencies which make certain courses of development more or less likely, in response to different contexts, under the diverse fysiologic and other restraints which delimit its growth. The claim that people cannot change is just a convenient excuse for those who benefit from the status quo. The ability to change and adapt is one of the greatest advantages of mammals in general and the human species in particular." A signal beep from the main computer informed that they were approaching the Venus docking station. They got up and the captain informed the passengers over the intercom. “Imagine that we came back and it turned out that we had entered into a different quantum universe,” speculated the second hand; ”where civilization had been wiped out by a horrific deadly pandemic, and ecologic collapse at the beginning of the twenty first century. So the docking station wasn’t there..” – “Yah, that would be weird,” replied the first hand. “Good thing that’s not how the story ended.” - "Confirming docking in T minus one minute.." proclaimed the voice on the intercom.