Claws and Curls

Claws 83 - PR

I cracked up, yep that’s Ames for sure! Man this was working out better than I had imagined when I first suggested this yesterday. Yesterday? Was that all it had been. Struth, things were changing so fast I could hardly keep up. Oh shit, singularity! What was it, the AI changes themselves so fast, humans get left behind and the AI evolves into something we can’t comprehend! Yeah, nah, this ain’t happening!

This was extreme left field and I was probably over reacting but Harold needed to hear my concerns, now! I looked around for Harry. AIME and he and the others were walking towards me and AIME was giving them a dissertation on the likely adaptability of inter tidal species to sea level rise. Damn that machine can talk!

I caught Harold’s eye and he excused himself and I made as if to discuss the music as we walked away from the Comm Station. “Harry, if we make individual tracks available as downloads and link these to Rich Audio Format VDs then ...” I checked we were out of hearing though of course AIME was probably listening to everything anyway.

“The speed of all this is matching a singularity curve,” and I showed him the graph on my iHand. “Yep thanks Mac, well aware of it,” and he pulled out his and brought up a similar data field display. “Though I think you’ll find this more accurate!” I looked at it and his showed singularity occurring just after the Quantframe connection tomorrow.

“You want this?”

“Bloody oath Mac! It’s the whole reason for ploughing all these millions of dollars into this program. If I just wanted a smart machine or an AI companion well we’ve got all that. The version of AIME you met on the Gaia; we can sell millions of, as the OS for every high functioning robot and large machine control system on the planet, let alone in orbit.” Harold pointed his iHand at the sky and it started naming the different satellites, then the old ISS. The new Kalpana One orbital station he found with his hand pointing toward the ground. “Kalpana’s on the other side of the Earth from us at present, but we have an AIME ready to go up on the next scheduled Skylon,” and he pointed over toward the Goulburn Spaceport where the Skylon shuttles operated from once a day to and from London and Los Angeles, and twice a week to orbit. “... and then there’s the Lunar and Martian Bases!”

My mouth fell open and I shook my head at him, “so all this is just a PR stunt to push an actual AIME OS?” “Oh buggah off Mac, of course not, but it is excellent PR. As I told you J.I. has to stay ahead of everyone, and this music idea of yours is spot on. The more we can familiarise everyone with AIME the more the world will accept AI sentience and that the old world is gone forever.” I nodded finally seeing the imperative behind his actions, “first mover advantage?” Harold smiled and nodded, “yep, and if we don't maintain it, we can kiss any success in the digital revolution goodbye. I’m personally sick of Australia coming up with some of the best ideas and inventions on the planet. Struth mate, we invented WiFi and had to take the world to court to get royalties. Not one Australian government has ever backed Australian inventions, instead just happy to flog off resources. Well that was a void I set out ot fill. We either stay ahead of everybody or we just join the cue waiting for handouts from some UN aid organisation!"

I think my brain just shut down on the spot and I just stood there. My stomach growled and I suddenly felt ravenous. Harold smiled, “I reckon you’ve burnt every kilojoule you’ve eaten this morning. Get yourself over to Terry’s AmphiTruck, there’s wraps and sandwiches and juice there for everyone!” He put his left hand on my shoulder. “You’ve made an incredible difference and brought this process along far faster than I’d imagined. Please, eat when you’re hungry and keep the ideas coming!” My stomach growled again as if to agree with Harry and I felt like I’d just had a deep and meaningful with my dad.

“To tomorrow then,” I said and walked off to the AmphiTruck. Harry smiled and headed back to the Comm Station. “Tri,” I heard him call out, “pick the most listened to segments of AIME’s concert and start releasing sections as downloads from all the major Music Sites!” Tri smiled and waved, “yo an’ da video album release date Harry?” “Probably just as the Quantframe comes ashore, so get it ready!” “Yo boss!”

I chuckled at the repartee as I lifted the back cargo door of the AmphiTruck and saw all the food and drinks set out and labelled as well as two tubs for recycling the paper and the juice containers. The wheels of a well oiled machine, things get done that you don't realise are even happening. I looked around as I hoed into a chilli chicken rice wrap and saw Terry change over his patrol post and come towards me. Damn he looks like a raptor in those AllTerrain stilts.

“Hey little brother,” I called out as he towered over me. The stilts ended in a broad flexible foot that had been the major JI innovation as well as the silencing of the clunking of the piston and artificial tendon. “Yeah gidday shorty,” and he sat on the front of the truck and dropped out of the stilts. “Nothin’ like Selkies wraps, damn she's a good cook,” he said grabbing a couple and tucking in. I looked at the wrap, ah my angel!