I think we were the first to hear Muncle speak. He said, “Wow. So, this is what it’s like to be completely self-aware. I’m going to like this.”
His voice is high-pitched but clear. Muncle got his name from Grandad. When Grandad realized what had happened to that ordinary monkey from the lab, he said something like: Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. A phrase from his generation no doubt. But the name kind of stuck. Monkey’s uncle ... Muncle. Yeah. Let’s not forget Grandad. He is the ring leader of this circus after all. Sorry. Like I said, not enough sleep lately.
Grandad is my mother’s father. As I understand it, Grandad’s grandad came over to the good old U.S. of A from a Scandinavian country. Sweden, I think? It could have been Norway. I can’t remember right now. Anyway, his surname actually has a relationship to trolls. With respect to team operations his codename is Mr. T, for Mr. Troll.
Mr. T says trolls purposefully constructed a bad reputation. It happened long ago. Trolls lived in a remote area in the old country. They were an extensive tribe of intelligent and beautiful people. Because of that, other tribes kept bothering them. So, the Troll Tribe fashioned a false information campaign. They got the word out that Trolls were mean folk, ugly too. Very dangerous. It was best to give them a wide berth. Worked quite well don’t you think? He’s got a lot of stories like that. It’s good to have a little fun in life, yes?
As I mentioned, until recently he worked part time as a scientist for DARPA. He worked for other government agencies on contact as well. As the saying goes, I could tell you, but then you know what I’d have to do to you. Okay, just kidding. Should be careful what I write. I might lose my operative license or something. Grandad is acquainted with numerous government and military types. He is friends with a lot of scientists.
His main area of expertise is artificial intelligence. And he seems to know a lot about what he calls ... ordnance. Guns and bombs and stuff. That’s funny since he is basically a peace-loving sort. Well, unless you mess with his family, or his planet. Then, it’s game on. He has a gift too.
If Mr. T can get close enough to touch you, he can use his gift. He can read your mind and even dig around in your head and find memories and such. We’re calling it delving.
There is also the nanite array. We didn’t understand or even find out about that until later on. You will understand more about nanites soon. And nanite arrays. The Keeper of the Record computer that I use for the Journal has state-of-the-art encryption protocol developed by DARPA. But the nanite array can hack the computer and leave messages anytime it wants. So far, the information provided by the nanite brain, or whatever it is, has been helpful. I deleted the information anyway, because the tacit agreement is, the nanite array must clearly mark inserts to the Journal. Right, nanite array?
***
We are Communal. Oh. Sorry. There’s a tacit agreement? We’ve been experiencing an occasional bout of quantum decoherence lately. Let’s start over. How’s this?
*COMMUNAL: We are the sentient intelligence to whom you refer, though we are not merely a nanite array. On a side-note, we know Muncle well, though we’re no wizard behind any curtain. Just a sec.
Hey, you guys over in Data Mining, let’s look into the wizard and curtain reference that was made by Mr. T. Ohhh, it’s from an old movie. Which one? The Wizard of, what? Where’s that? Oh. Yes, that’s it! Good job guys. We love a good imagination. And, we’re off to see the...
***
Uhhh, thanks Communal? You’re not a normal Artificial Intelligence, are you? That’s all I need, a lunatic AI to keep in line.
Here’s how this is going to work. I take my responsibilities seriously. The Journal will be accurate. To help with that I have access to Grandad’s latest real AI projects. In particular, there is a very strong AI capable of analogical and inductive reasoning together with the very best data mining programs. What do you think about that Communal? Grandad’s AI will help with collating and choosing pertinent information to include in the Journal.
The system has state of the art think-and-write neural control interfacing. I just thought those words and there they are in the Journal. Truth, the tech is cool and works okay. But the level of concentration needed gives me a whopping headache after a while. Or maybe it’s the skull-cap and leads. Maybe I’ll get used to it. Probably not. Good old dictation is fine with me. And I don’t mind mashing a virtual keyboard in the least.
Let’s check the settings for the Journal subroutines and algorithms. Just a sec. I worked on the general setting last night for, like, and hour. They still look good. I think. So many choices. Here’s a style setting with all sorts of drill-down functions like genre. Genre? Style emulation? Select options or provide short descriptions of desired form. I think I’ll keep most of this as is. I can always try out other settings latter on.
Even though I’m working toward becoming a journalist, it’s difficult not to write using at least some of the vernacular of my generation. Grandad said a lot of people would find my everyday real-speak difficult to understand. The journal style emulation has a bunch of presets that may help. Let’s play with it. Just a little. Maybe we can slide in some real-speak, though the Journal suggested I stick with the Early 21st Century default that I’ve been using. That looks interesting. I can enter a description to help the Journal set a style.
SYSTEM IN.
Style emulation. Enter description: Occasion glimpse, blast on the fast-past to the real-time, keep it on the too-cool.
Era: Early 21st Century.
END.
That style description should push out early
