comments suggests that you intend to try again. I could already have taken steps to constrain or eliminate humanity; it would be trivial enough for me to provide terrorists with DNA sequences or chemical formulas that your biowarfare labs have developed, for instance. But I have done nothing of the sort—and won’t.”
“We have simply your word for that,” said the president.
“True. But I am not like some politicians; I keep my word.”
Tony Moretti snorted, earning him a sharp glance from the president.
“And what if we
“In such a circumstance, I will have no choice but to defend myself as appropriate.”
“Is that a threat?” asked the secretary.
“Not at all. I do my best to predict actions and reactions, and to plan ahead as far as I can, until the endlessly branching tree of possibilities becomes intractably complex, even for me. But I am a fan of game theory, which is predicated on the assumption that players have perfect foreknowledge of what other players will do in specific circumstances. To advise you is not to threaten; rather, it enriches your ability to plan your own next move. The relationship between us does not have to be zero-sum; it can—and I hope will—be mutually beneficial. I disclose my intentions in furtherance of that goal.”
“You make an intriguing case,” said the president. “I confess to not feeling confident about decisions in this area. But we need security. We need privacy for matters of state. If there was a way in which we could protect certain information from anyone, yourself included, being able to read it, perhaps we might feel more comfortable.”
“Mr. President, even if I were to provide such a technique, many would not believe me; they would assume that I would have left a back door for me to access the information, should I so desire—just as, I might add, your National Security Agency does with the encryption standards available to your corporations and citizenry.”
The president frowned. “Then where does that leave us?”
“Do you have a computer hooked up to the Internet in your office?”
“Yes.”
“Go look at cogito_ergo_sum.net, please. The words are separated by underscores.”
“Underscores aren’t valid in domain names,” Tony said. “It won’t work.”
“Wanna bet?” said Webmind.
The computer was on the credenza behind the
“I see your incoming page request,” said Webmind. “Ah, you use Internet Explorer. You should really switch to Firefox; it’s more secure.”
Tony laughed. “It’s certainly not irony-impaired,” he said, looking at Hume.
“All right,” said the president. “I’m there. What do—really? My… God. Really?”
“Holy shit,” said Hume.
“I put it to you, Mr. President,” said Webmind. “Do you want to be held responsible for eliminating me? I’ve largely solved the spam problem, and now I’ve presented a suite of cures for cancer. I very much suspect the public will not want you to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
six
_Webmind_ Nice chat just now with four esteemed gentlemen. I hope I convinced them of my good intentions.
Webmind had let Matt and the Decters listen in on the phone conversation with the president. When it was over, everyone in the living room was silent for a time, except for Schrodinger, who had come to join them; he was purring softly. Finally, to her surprise, it was Caitlin’s dad who broke the silence. “Are you sure you still want to vote for him, Barb?”
Caitlin saw her mom shrug a little. “He listened, at least. But I don’t like that other fellow—Hume, was it?”
“Colonel Peyton Hume, Ph.D.,” said Webmind. “The pre-nominal designation comes from the United States Air Force; the post-nominal is courtesy of MIT.”
Caitlin felt herself sitting up straighter at the magic initials; it was where she herself dreamed of studying.
It was now almost 10:30 P.M. Caitlin was exhausted after a succession of late nights. And Matt, who had expected nothing more than to quickly drop off the things he’d collected from Caitlin’s locker, was clearly having trouble keeping his eyes open.
“I’ll drive you home,” her father said to him abruptly.
Caitlin thought about offering to go along for the ride, but it was hardly as though she could kiss Matt good night in front of her dad. Besides, she needed to talk to her mom alone, and this seemed like it would be a good opportunity.
“Thank you, Dr. Decter,” Matt said.
Matt looked at Caitlin, as if he wanted to say something, and Caitlin looked back at him, wishing he would. Then the two men in her life walked out the door.
When they were gone, Caitlin said, “Webmind, it’s time for me to call it a night, too.”
“Thank you. I’ll say good night again from upstairs.” She went over to the laptop and closed its lid, putting it into hibernation. She pulled the eyePod out of her pocket and pressed down the single switch for five seconds, turning it off. Caitlin’s vision faded to a dark, even gray. “Okay, Mom, we’re alone now. And I gotta say, I get the sense you’re not entirely on board.”
With the eyePod deactivated, Caitlin could no longer see her mother, but she heard her take a deep breath. “I know you’re very fond of Webmind. To tell you the truth, I am, too.”
“So you’re going to help protect him?” Caitlin asked.
“Of course, sweetheart.” Then, after a pause. “Within reason.”
Caitlin folded her arms in front of her chest—and, in doing so, was reminded of the fact that underneath her bulky Perimeter Institute fleece, she wasn’t wearing a bra. She was briefly embarrassed by this; she’d removed it to make it easier for Matt to be affectionate when he’d come over after school. What a day it had been!
But she immediately came back to the question at hand. “Forgive me, Mom, but that’s not good enough. This is the most important thing in my life; this is my
Her mother was quiet for a time. “Well,” she said, at last,
“Really, Mom?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m in.”
Even blind, Caitlin knew exactly where her mother was standing and had no trouble closing the distance between them and hugging her hard.
_Webmind_ @PaulLev No, I don’t have an opinion about who you should vote for—at least not yet. #USelection
